In the Night
by redheadturkey
Summary: During a demonstration of a new robot, Reno of the Turks is trapped inside. due to the emotional trauma of watching the robot tear it apart, , being taken from the building by it breaks him. The only way to save his sanity was for him to become what had terrified him so badly. Now, his friends must figure out how to get him back, while trying to see how it happened.
1. Chapter 1

_Wish I could believe_

_That you care for me that way_

_Mirror, mirror speak to me_

_In the night_

_Don't you think I know_

_this grief can't be cried away?_

_In the tears I cry I see you_

_Rainy day._

In the Night

From Key the Metal Idol

"Doctor Kimiko." The young man that stood slouched against the wall with a cigarette in his hand was an unlikely assistant for the short, slender, birdlike robotics expert that was at that moment bent over a computer console. The room that they were working in was all steel walls and corrugated metal floors, the ceiling acoustic times. "If ya need anything else, just tell me." Smoke curled around the man's head, blurring the brilliant hair, the bright orange red that most people would think was dyed, in several places.

The man in question was one of the newly rebuilt ShinRa Company's Turks, the Vice Director, Reno Kirbani, to be precise. The slim frame was in a relaxed posture against one steel wall, but the eyes, a blue green color that resembled the multi-color splendor of the southern seas off the coast of Costa Del Sol, were as sharp as an eagle's in the angular face.

Amber eyes the startling color of a Guard Hound's turned to meet those of the man speaking to her, the orbs uptilted with distinct epicanthic folds that spoke of her heritage. Hotaru Kimiko was from Wutai, a small village several hundred kilometers from the capital city. She had a natural talent with robotics and artificial intelligence that rivaled that of Reeve Tuetsi himself, one of the greatest roboticists that had ever crossed the threshold of ShinRa's gates. "I need you to be utterly certain that I am not disturbed. I must finish this robot so that it is ready for the presentation in the morning."

Spread about her on the table that stood next to her were gears and wires and other parts, the hulking metallic form that would soon be the completed prototype standing next to it. The shape was vaguely humanoid, with clear glass lenses set in a face of black frosted alloy. The chest plates were open, some of the mechanisms obviously missing. One of the main ones, and it was the reason she was sending him out of the room, was a small container that looked almost like an IV bag, but this bag contained a green viscous substance that hovered from gas to fluid to solid and back, not according to the temperature, but as if it danced to the beat of some strange inner drum only it could hear.

Reno nodded, heading out to stand near the door. If he had known that she was powering the machines with raw Lifestream he would have put a stop to the whole thing, and fast. Though he had some of the Ancient blood, as the Flower Girl that had saved them all had had, he had shut away the voices and the connection to the Planet that came with it that he failed to sense the secret ingredient that brought life to the Doctor's creations.

Once the ragged scarlet rat tail had disappeared from her sight which signaled the young man's exit Hotaru lifted the power gel pack, rubbing it lovingly against her cheek. "Soon my love. . .soon you will have life again."

Her eyes closed as memories washed over her. The loss of her family during the Wutai War had torn her world apart, turning her entire life upside down. Her robots had been all that remained to her after the bombs that had destroyed her home, wiped out everyone she had ever known. She could to this day feel the flames licking her skin in her dreams. . .hear the screams as her husband and child were buried inside the wreckage of her home. "You first, my sweet Akio. . .then our darling Daisuki."

The container was set delicately within the open chest cavity, before the doors were closed. The glass optics flashed once before going dark again, eliciting a smile of satisfaction from the woman. "So very close. . .soon. . .soon I will have my family back."

Reno's head suddenly shot up from outside the door at the same moment those optics flared with that eerie green light from within, as if someone had stepped across his grave. The faintest whisper had traveled across his consciousness, making him shudder with a sudden chill. "That was just fucking spooky." he muttered as he shook his head, passing the feeling off as being one of those strange premonitions he sometimes got.

He found himself a couch to settle into, and the next he knew the sun was leaking in through the windows that were set in the metal ceilings of the hallway, making him blink bleary eyes. He looked down to where his phone was vibrating, and picked it up as he pulled the half-crushed green and white striped pack from his jacket pocket, lipping one of the cancer sticks out as he answered it. "Yeah, boss." It was President Rufus ShinRa on the line, his boss and one of his five best friends.

The last four Turks and their boss had stuck together even after Meteor had nearly destroyed their world and the threat that had been Deep Ground had been defeated, after all, when your comrades in arms were all you had left in the world you became as tight as any blood family ever could. He owed Rude and Tseng his life more times than he could count, in fact the two had been the ones to remove him from the slums of Sector Seven when he'd been a half-starved boy of fifteen. "Yeah, the robot'll be ready by the time it needs to be. Doctor Kimiko sent me outta the room so she could finish it, she's been workin' all night."

"I see." Rufus was inside his own office in the rebuilt Tower, tapping slender, perfectly manicured fingers on the top of his desk as he spoke. "Make certain that she arrives at Edge Municipal Stadium on time. Though I am certain I can trust you to be sure that happens." Those same fingers brushed through wheaten blond strands, pushing them out of the glacial blues that were a ShinRa trademark. Despite his harsh tone, he trusted Reno to be certain the job got done. The man had saved his life during Meteor, pulling him out of the destroyed HQ after Diamond Weapon's attack, at the risk of his own life as the structure creaked around him.

"Yes sir." Reno knew very well what that tone of voice meant. Rufus suspected something was going on, but couldn't put his finger on what that something was. That set his own senses on alert, though he was not certain exactly what he should be on the lookout for yet. As the line was closed he headed down toward where he could find some coffee.

Tseng's dark hair rustled over his shoulder as he turned to Rufus. "Something about this bothers me. . .and I can sense it does you as well. You just do not know what that something is yet. It is like chasing a Jumping through its tunnels and hoping that what you find on the other side is what you seek, and not something that will prey on you." The analogy, though the Wutain Turk did not realize it at that moment, was a creepily accurate one. "Hotaru Kimiko. . .I know I have heard that name, outside of her fame as a robotics expert." He shook his head. "I suppose it will be figured out eventually."

The Director of the Turks knew it was time to put that pondering away for the moment, however, and help Rufus get things together to be ready for the demonstration. "I will check your car, sir. Then we will be ready to do the things we must today, including the presentation." A faint shiver ran up Tseng's spine at the thought. The mechanical beings were something very creepy to him, something about how only those who had been born of the Planet should have a semblance of life, a teaching he had been given early in his childhood. Reeve's creations did not bother him as such due to the fact that though they had AI, he controlled them to a great degree.

Rufus gave Tseng a nod. He too was a bit spooked by the idea of a fully sentient AI, though it was not due to a religious teaching, but the mere visceral response to something not born or organic having life. He supposed it was a natural human reaction to be disturbed by such things, though he put that unease away. These robots would make his corporation a fortune, and save lives, as they could go places no person could go in order to collect much needed energy resources.

_I can not afford to wonder about the moral rightness of such technological advances, our world depends upon them now, more than ever, due to it being in such terrible shape. Strife will likely say that I am playing with things that should not be trifled with, but there is naught else I can do. I must protect what little is left and make up for the horrible things my father has done, both to my people and this planet. _The blond shook himself from his thoughts as he slid the black vest and white jacket on over the gray turtleneck, the long coat hid the sawed off shotgun he carried on him at all times. As he turned and locked the door, he fought off the sense of chilling presentiment that something was going to go wrong.

He would look back later to his dismay and realize he should have listened to his gut and stopped things before they got so out of control, but then hindsight is always twenty-twenty.


	2. Chapter 2

_We're building it up  
To break it back down  
We're building it up  
To burn it down  
We can't wait  
To burn it to the ground _

_Burn it down, Linkin Park_

Reno helped Hotaru load the robot into the trunk of the car, a shiver running through his body as he did. He could hear the faint sounds of voices again, but he shook it off, not thinking anything of it. "So, Doctor Kimiko, ya said these things are sentient? How do you do that? Reeve tried, but he could never create a fully self-aware AI." The question was one purely of curiosity, but he noted the way the woman held herself, the way the slim body stiffened as she considered the query. It told him that she didn't want to answer it. Though he wasn't sure why.

Hotaru swept her fingers through shoulder length blue black hair, closing the almond shaped eyes a moment as her full lower lip was caught between her front teeth. "Trade secret." she finally told him. "An artist can't give everything away." Those lips curved up into a smile, and she gestured him to the car. "Come, we need to get to the auditorium and get the robot put back together and set up." She had indeed flinched at the question. _If he tells the President, they will not let me finish, they would stop me. They can not know until it is already done. _

"Sir." The other that stood outside as Tseng and Rufus left the new tower was tall, broad shouldered, and naturally bald, the round dark eyes in the creamed coffee colored face covered by a pair of aviator sunglasses. His lantern shaped jaw was framed by a perfectly trimmed Van Dyke beard, and he wore a spike in one ear, and double hoops in the other. Hidden under the black three piece suit and tie were henna tattoos that wrapped around both arms and ran down his back in tribal inspired shapes. His name was Rudolph Urar, and he was Reno's work partner, and one of his best friends, though he went by the code name Rude.

"Rude." Rufus gave him a nod as a petite and youthful blond woman walked out behind him, her own expression firm as honey brown eyes scanned the entire area. "Elena. It's time for us to go." They would check the venue before the rest of the people came to see the presentation, while Reno was helping Doctor Kimiko get the robot ready. He could not help the almost secretive smile, however. These people had been with him since prior to Meteor, they had taken care of him after Meteor when he'd been helpless, protected him, and allowed him to keep his pride even under horrible circumstances.

He took Rude aside, and quietly murmured to him. "Make sure that Strife is at the venue. I am certain as Reno is there he would be anyway, but be certain of it. Something about this entire situation strikes me suspiciously, and the extra pair of eyes is something that can only help us." They all knew of the strange bond between the moody, spike haired blond former trooper and the second in command of the Turks, and they knew Cloud would watch over him.

Meanwhile Hotaru and Reno had reached the place where the demonstration would take place, the disassembled robot being removed from the trunk and carried inside, piece by piece. The cold steel of the pieces contrasted with the warmth of the skin they rested against, though he could again hear the soft whisperings as lifted up the chest piece. He shook it off as he got inside.

It took about four hours for he and Hotaru to get the robot assembled and for rest of the Turks to get the venue set up, and people began filtering into the building. Mobile lips tipped up into a smile instead of his typical smirk as the short, stocky former trooper walked in, and he strode over to Cloud, pulling him in for a quick kiss, one that left Cloud teasingly shoving him off.

"Not in public, you know that." came the admonition. Still, Cloud couldn't help the half-smile that touched his mouth at the show of affection. Reno acted so cocksure and carefree ninety nine percent of the time, but the blond knew the other loved him.

The way the two had fallen together was a memory that made the trooper chuckle as his mind soared back. They had begun as friends, back when Cloud had been a trooper, Reno having met him through Zack Fair, the boy from Gongaga who had dreamed of being a hero. Nibelheim had happened, and they had been separated, to become enemies due to being on opposite sides of a conflict that neither had chosen. Through all of the battles, neither had been able to bring themselves to finish the other off, and after the battles had ended, and the dust had settled, they had found themselves one night sitting at a table inside the Seventh, just talking over a few drinks.

Reno had discovered that Cloud still carried the burden of the guilt for Zack's death, and for Aerith's, though neither had truly been his fault, nor had they been preventable. He had also discovered that despite that guilt the blond still did all in his power to protect those he held dear. Cloud had found out that Reno held similar guilt for Sector Seven. . .and that he still, due to his own half-Cetra ancestry, heard the screams of those of his own home sector that had been crushed beneath tons of steel and concrete in his dreams.

Soon after, they had begun dating, and by the time the remnants had come were as thick as thieves, the two of them going after each other at Healen Lodge really being not much more than a show to keep Rufus from knowing they were together before either one was ready for him to know. Now, neither could see life without each other, and they would lay their lives down for the other. As the gleaming band of seed diamonds on Reno's left ring finger would attest.

"I know." Reno's voice cut through the haze of memory, and he couldn't help but chuckle at the grin on the other's face. "Look, I got a seat for ya, yo. Front row. I gotta finish helpin' Doctor Kimiko puttin' this fucker together, an' then I'll be out there to sit with ya. Won't be long, I promise." It would be the last time he'd gaze at Cloud with that much love for a long time. . though neither of them knew that in that moment, and Cloud would kick himself for not stealing the kiss he was thinking of before he reached over and set a hand on Reno's shoulder and strode out.

Doctor Kimiko watched the two almost fondly, though she was also watching the youthful redhead. He seemed spook from handling the robot's parts, which bore keeping watch on. _If he figures it out. . .I may have to find a way to keep him from being a problem. I'd hate to have to, I actually like this one. He reminds me of my dear Aki. I will simply have to keep him from figuring out what it is that's spooking him. _

It was not long until people began filing into the building. Reno immediately picked out the short bowl cut of the feisty Wutain princess, the long soft sable hair of the barkeep from Nibelheim that had grown up with his lover, and the former Turk in the red cape and headband. In the seats next to them were his coworkers, and their presence made him feel just a little bit more comfortable as Hotaru, wearing a leather skirt, a white button down with a wool blazer, and a pair or clunky flats, walked out, a controller in her hand that she turned a dial on to make the robot walk out behind her with clanking steps.

"Ladies and Gentlemen." her voice, softly accented, carried out over the crowd as she spoke, the microphone pinned to her blouse amplifying the volume enough for her to be heard. "I would like to present to you the newest advance in ShinRa's robotics. The P-75R! It has fully articulated ball joints, and with this switch. .." she pushed the switch up, and the optics that had been dark glowed a brillant teal from within. "You will see what a marvelous advancement this truly is! Say hello to everyone, Aki,"

One hand of the massive seven foot tall mech that would be reminiscent of old robot films such as the Iron Giant came up in a wave, before the robot turned its head to the audience. "Hello." came a synthesized voice, earnest and pleasantly intelligent in his inflenction.

Reno walked over, as he'd been directed, and he reached and shook the robot's hand. As soon as he did the eyes flashed, and the mechanoid turned, his hands stretching out, beams coming out of the palms and chaos broke out seemed to go in slow motion as his eyes went wide, and he shouted "Get everyone out of here!"

A dim memory broke through the stunned shock, the memory of a small robotic doll that would dance on his bed and make him laugh as a young boy. Of course it was controlled by a small RC contrroller, but it had been like magic to a seven year old boy who had had so very little. Eerily, the robot was dancing in the very same manner across the stage as the building began to crumble around them. People screamed and ran, trampling each other in an attempt to get out.

Cloud ran toward the stage to try to reach his lover, only to hear the creaking sound of a beam above them. The building was round, like a sports stadium, with a dome atop it, which gave the other people more places to escape, but the stage was right in the center, making it more difficult for those on the stage to escape. "Reno!" he yelled out, as the flames roared up, engulfing the podium and making the Turk disappear from sight.

Rude grabbed Cloud's arm, pulling him out. "There is nothing you can do.." the bald man's expression was grim as he got him out of the building. "You would just be killed too, and he'd die anyway." His voice was toneless as he spoke, before he turned his head, hearing the voice of Doctor Kimiko trying to get control of the robot, as others were usherred out. She managed to get it out of the stadium, then ordered it to reach back in. It punched a hole in the roof and reached back in, rooting around for the redhead, who was the last one still alive inside.

Hotaru's face seemed to crumple in on itself as her precious creation suddenly went out of control, destroying everything in its path. "Aki. ..Aki, no!" she yelled out, grabbing one of the metal arms and pulling it out of the building. The mech was making what could almost be called sounds of distress, two clangs sounding as its hands clapped to its temples. "You must calm down, my love" she whispered. "You must get the young one out. If you allow him to die, I will not be able to finish my work."

It turned, in a ponderous fashion, walking back to the building, climbing atop the roof of the massive round sports arena it plunged its hand through the roof, reaching down with both arms and lifting the debris off the Turk before pulling him back up.

The flames licked up around Reno, his body frozen as terror shredded through every single bit of his training, a primordial fear that even the best trained would be hard pressed to overcome. The images of the hands blasting the buildng apart, bricks falling down around him, burying him underneat it all combining with the appearance of those gleaming glass grystals and the voices that rushed around him, plus the voice from the machine, overwhelming his mind until his pupils pinpointed, consciousness sinking deep to preserve what sanity remained to him.

_Night owl calls while the dove soars across the silver moon. All alone the rose petals close and kiss the across the darkened night sky sail lighting shadows that hide a thousand eyes. _

The verse from the old lullaby his mother had once sung to him echod through his mind for a moment before his eyes took on the same look of glassy and blank pits as the smoked steel mechanoid whose hand draped itself around him and assisted him out of the destroyed building. When he looked at those who had been so terrified for him, and were glad he was alive, Rude shivered at the look of blank non awareness.

Cloud had fought Rude the whole way to get back into the building to try to get Reno out. . .panic welling in heart and soul, the same panic that had torn into him when Zack had died, and Aerith. He pulled Reno out of the thing's arms, glaring at it with mouth drawn into a vicious snarl. "Don't you touch him." He already hated the creature for what it had done. . .saving his lover's life was not enough to make up for it.

The sound of the sirens in the distance made the others look up. Rude's face was coated in soot from the fire, as he bent to try to get Reno's attention on him. "The medics are coming." he reasured his partner, who simply continued to give him that blank stare. Inside, another persona was forming, one that did not feel pain, or sorrow, or fear. It was cold logic and knowledge, no emotion. "I am unharmed." The flat, cold tone, with none of Reno's typical slang dialect or even his normal Slums accent, would be heartbreaking to those who knew the wiry redhead well.


	3. Chapter 3

_In your head  
In your head  
Zombie zombie zombie ei ei  
What's in your head  
In your head.  
Zombie, zombie, zombie ei, ei, ei, oh _

_Zombie by the Cranberries_

Rude and Cloud exchanged glances as the medics came, the bald man had lost his sunglasses somewhere along the line, making him feel much more exposed than he really liked. The dismay in those eyes was clear in the way they scrunched at the corners, and in the way the lids hung half-closed. "We will make him all right again." he promised the blond. "Some how, some way, we will. Even if I don't know how yet. I'm not going to accept anything less, and I doubt any of the others who consider him a friend will either."

The look he shot in the direction of the woman who had shut the robot down and begun to load into the car was scathing, enough to make her flinch, had she been looking. "I don't like the feeling I get from her." he muttered to Cloud. "Something about her just strikes me wrong, and I don't know what that is yet." Inside, he was shaken, but turning on that analytical nature of his Turk training was keeping him from becoming overly emotional. If he lost that edge, broke down, it would not help him to figure out exactly why what had happened had happened, and more than anything in the world he wanted to understand, as it might help them in figuring out how to help Reno.

"This is my fault." Cloud's voice was soft. "If I'd watched over him better this wouldn't have happened. I knew something was wrong. . .I knew that there was something off about the situation." He turned, heading toward the ambulance, as the medics began to check the redhead over. The eerie stillness and cooperation that they got from the Turk shook the former trooper to his core, normally the slender male would be swatting at them and telling them to back off, that he was fine and to stop fussing at him.

"Do not blame yourself." The words came from the bartender that came up behind them. "You know that's the last thing he'd want, Cloud." Tifa had her hands on her hips as she looked at him, those wine colored eyes meeting his dead on. "He's always hated when you do that, if he were able he'd smack you for that, and you know he would." She swept her bangs out of her face. "Instead of blaming yourself you need to find a way to help him."

"She's right." Rude told him. "Reno would not want you to blame yourself. He always does what he feels he needs to, even if it's things that others might not agree with sometimes, or might think are reckless or foolhardy. It is who he is, and has always been. Now come on. I'm pretty sure Rufus has already called in the best so far as psychotherapists and doctors by now." He set that hand on Cloud's shoulder again, his expression thoughtful. "I'll take you."

Rufus had indeed called upon the best that Gaia had to offer, considering himself fortunate that the man lived in Edge so he did not have to wait for him to come from some distant place to get here. "Doctor Ellison." He greeted the stocky man with the graying chestnut hair, "I should probably explain to you why I've called you here." He looked to where Reno was being examined by the physician, and gestured the therapist to a seat. "You do know of the accident at the arena earlier, I am quite sure."

"I saw it on the news." Doctor Ellison confirmed. "Just horrible. The latest estimated death toll was fifteen hundred. I can't even imagine what it was like to witness that, much less be inside when it all happened." he felt a jolt of sympathy for all of those who had been there.

"Mr. Kiribani was inside the stadium when it happened. He had been working with the robot that went out of control, had even assisted the creator in making the finer adjustments to the finished product." Rufus told him, his expression serious. "All of his life, since he was a young child, he has been fascinated with automatons. I am certain you as a psychologist can imagine the sense of betrayal that would come from being nearly killed by something you had felt an affinity with your entire childhood."

The doctor flinched at that assessment. "And from the records you supplied me with, it would appear he was not entirely mentally stable to begin with, risk for disassociation, PTSD, depression, aggression, and psychotic breaks." The assessment was succinct. "And my guess is that they are not complete, such tendencies commonly are associated with early childhood trauma, and at the moment. . .he is the only one with the answers that may give us a clue to just how deep this rabbit hole goes. . And he's not able to supply them."

"I want you to get the answers as to what happened. He knows something. I know that he knows something, but he is hidden so deeply beneath the mechanisms protecting him from the trauma that he does not remember it." Rufus' lips thinned into a firm line, his jaw set. "I want to know why this happened. I doubt Doctor Kimiko will answer any questions, if she has not already fled. My suspicions are that she has. I should have had her arrested, but there truly was not anything I could have had her arrested for. She had not done anything illegal. That we know of."

"I will do my best, President ShinRa. But I make no promises."

Deep within the one who sat on the bed with the doctors examining him Reno's true self lay curled up like a cat, hidden behind multiple barriers. It slept inside like a chick within the shell of an egg, In that mental landscape, a gate stood in front of that alcove where he was in protected slumber, with two figures, one on each side of it, the first with a wild and insane gleam in the teal eyes, and the other cold and logical, no emotion on the exotic-looking face, making it appear almost remote. The robotic one had chained the wild one to the gate so that he could not get free.

They were guardians for the raw self inside, his protectors until he was healed enough and strong enough to push past them and rise to the surface again. The Robot kept the wild one back because it was simply too dangerous to have it free.


	4. Chapter 4

_What I've felt, what I've known  
Turn the pages, turn the stone  
Behind the door, should I open it for you...  
The Unforgiven II by Metallica_

Hotaru had indeed run, left Edge altogether. She was hiding in a warehouse somewhere in Lower Junon, the slums of the seaside city being out from under ShinRa's watchful eye enough that she felt safe hiding with her robots, and trying to figure why Akio had lost his senses in such a horrible, tragic way. "I don't understand . .it should have worked perfectly." she murmured. "The power was there, you were in there. ..my darling." she set a hand on the mechanoid's cheek, her expression thoughtful.

Her eyes closed. She had no idea as of now of how to deal with this. Without ShinRa's support she would not be able to bring back Daisuki. . .and with the blame for the disaster resting solely on her machines there was no way she would gain the company's support once more. The only thing she could think of was seeking the assistance of the Wutai government but even that would be chancy should Godo die prior to Daisuki's completion.

_I will have to see if I can steal what I need, and hope that I used to separate Aki's spirit works as well for Dai's. I have worked too many years trying to get back my family to let this setback be the end._. The thought was one that made her lips press together as she tried to put together the pieces to do what she had to do.

Cloud sat in the waiting area until they were done so he could take his lover home, his eyes closed. The whole situation had him confused. The mental devestation was clear, and left him not sure what to do about it. He felt as if he was walking on eggshells around the man, as he did not know exactly how Reno would be from one moment to the next. He was no good at dealing with psychological trauma at any rate, even if he had dealt with plenty of his own.

As he waited, the President walked out to him, and gestured him to sit. "Cloud." Rufus began by using his given name, he wanted to set the blond warrior at ease, especially as it was likely they would need to work together if they were to get anywhere, both in caring for the redhead that both of them loved, and in solving the mystery of what had gone wrong. "I know how difficult this must be for you. . .if there is anything I can do to help, simply ask it of me."

Rufus had every intention of making certain that every one of Reno's medical bills was covered. He did not want Cloud to have to worry about any of the finincial burden that came of events of this nature, as it would detract from finding out exactly what happened. Though as he said as much, that he intended to be certain that all of their expenses were covered, he saw how the former trooper's spine stiffened. He knew the man had his pride. He held out a hand in a warding gesture. "Do not stand on your principles." Rufus said quietly, sweeping the strand of bangs that would not stay back out of his eyes. "I need your help to find the Good Doctor. . .and to understand what went wrong. If you are too busy struggling to simply survive, you will not be at your sharpest to give me the help that I need. I know that you are a proud man, and if you feel the need to repay me when this is said and done, I will not tell you no."

Cloud suddenly let out a soft laugh, as if suddenly remembering something. "You know how he's always getting himself in trouble? Of course you do, he's one of your own. I remember one day when. . ."

_The power had gone out sometime around midnight the night before, snow falling in heavy blankets all across the city. Cloud would wake to the sound of swearing and the scent of burning meat sometime around seven in the morning, padding out to the kitchen to see what the fuss was about. When he got there, Reno had athe wooden cutting board up on the counter, with an entire package of uncooked sausage patties laying on it. He had his emr out, and was inserting the weapon into the middle of each patty and turning it on, the electricity searing through the meat and sending out the smell of burning pork each time. _

_The blond could not help himself, he took in the sight of the redhead with his hair hanging loose down to the small of his back, wearing a pair of pajamas with helicopters screen printed alll over them and feeties, sticking his electro mag rod into the middle of a dozen sausage patties laid out in two rows of six one at a time, and he tilted his head back, letting out deep bellied, rolling laughs. _

"He looked so thoroughly ridiculous, I couldn't help but laugh." Cloud smiled almost fondly at that. "But I will give him this. . .he did get the sausage cooked. And it was some of the best sausage I had eaten in a pretty long time." His face fell, though, the reminder of just why they were here sticking itself into his gut. He wasn't sure why he felt this easy camaraderie with Rufus, except that he knew the man loved Reno dearly, as if the Turk was his own brother.

Rufus set a hand on Cloud's shoulder. "We will help him get himself back. That I can promise you. He is strong, stronger than many give him credit for. He would not have survived nearly so long as he has if he was not. And we will see if there was any sort of foul play involved. If there was. . .the perpetrator will not get away with it. I will not allow such to happen."

Cloud merely nodded as the door opened and Reno was led out by the doctor to be released into the former trooper's care. The blank look on the normally mobile face made Cloud's heart sink, but he did all he could not to show it. _I have to stay strong_. He said to himself. _Reno needs me, to help take care of him, but also to find the one responsible for this. I won't let it go unpunished, that is a promise that I am making to myself, right here, right now. _

Reno merely tilted his head, giving the spike haired blond a curious look, and nodding as he was told to go with the man. He knew who Cloud was, and that he lived with him, but the emotional connection was not there at that moment. The knowledge was there, but not the feeling, and he did not even realize he should be disturbed at that fact. "We are going home?" he asked, that tone again flat, with no feeling or inflection whatsoever in it.

"Yes, we are." Cloud looked down. Inside, his heart was breaking every time Reno spoke that way, and he knew that there was not a damn thing he could do to change it. .. even if he wished to every deity that there was that he could. "I'll make sure that you have everything that you need. I promise you that much." He wanted to hug the redhead, but he wasn't sure if it would be accepted. So instead he squeezed the man's shoulder. "You hungry? We can pick up something on the way home if so."

The question was answered in the form of a loud rumble. Reno poked at his belly as if he didn't understand why it had made that noise. "I believe I am, yes." His lips pursed in a perplexed expression. "If that noise and the ache I feel here mean that." The teal eyes took on a blank look for a moment as if withdrawing within, then cleared. "Yes, I am hungry." he confirmed. "I think I wish to have a cheeseburger."

The ache grew deeper the more that Cloud saw him displaying none of his normal vibrant life. _It's destroyed him. And the worst part is that he doesn't even realize that it has. The loss of one's entire self, the worst thing is I can't even say I can't imagine it, I've been there. I will help get him back. _His determined face grew firmer still, even as he did all he could to hide it from his lover. He refused to let on to Reno that what had happened upset him.

_Gods speed and good luck_. Rufus thought to himself as he watched the two walk out. _You will need it, but I will make damn sure you both have every single bit of support that you could need. _

Tseng was waiting in the doorway when Rufus returned to the ShinRa building, the look on his face one of forboding. "We found this within the wreckage of the stadium." He held in his hand a small gel pack, it had remnants of a green fluid inside of it. "We do not know where it has come from, as yet, or what it was doing there. . .but it is obvious that it is unrefined mako. And we all know that that is bad news."

Rufus' lip curled, and his nostrils flared, blue eyes narrowing as rage filled him. "I have done all that I can to get away from the things my father has done. To make up for the harm that was done to the Planet under his watch. That someone is using mako sickens me, especially someone that I myself hired. She must be found, she must be. I've no idea what use she would have for raw lifestream, and I shudder to imagine the purposes of it."

"As do I. Even refined mako is dangerous, but raw mako. . .? That is a disaster simply waiting to happen. Even for someone as knoweledgable as Doctor Kimko has proven herself to be." Tseng's own mouth was pursed as he dropped into thought. "And you and I both know of the secret that Reno hid. For years, due to your father's greed and machinations, we hunted the boy's cousin. If Rupert ShinRa had known that one lay right under his nose the consequences may well have been disastrous." Tseng shook his head. "Combining raw lifestream with someone who already is has increased sensitivity to it due to his ancestry, especially one who has not had a chance to be taught to use his inherent gifts. . .Leviathan only knows what the result of such a thing may be."

"Not to mention the dangers inherent to others. .. but it does give a possible reason for why one of the strongest men I know broke so swiftly." Rufus tapped his chin in a thoughtful manner. Mild mako poisoning would explain Reno breaking so swiftly, most of his kind would have processed the susbtance quickly, but how much of that was natural ability or training Rufus did not know, and that worried him. "Make sure the rest of the wreckage is entirely swept. We need to know why there was raw mako there, in a contained form."

Tseng gave a sharp nod. "I will make certain that it is done,. Sir." then with a head tilt he asked. "What should I tell Strife? He would want to know that there was mako involved, yet at the same time would being told of the presence of it distract him from the matter at hand? He does tend to get hung up in the details, which could cause him to lose track of the bigger picture."

"Not for now. When we know for sure that the presence of mako did have a hand in what happened to Reno, or that it definitely has something to do with this case, we will tell him."


	5. Chapter 5

_Do you feel cold_

_and lost in desperation?_

_You build up hope,_

_but failure's all you've known_

_Remember all _

_the sadness and frustration_

_and let it go_

_let it go_

Iridescent by Linkin Park

Reno had seemingly sunk into his own world again by the time he got home, staring blankly at the television that Cloud had turned on when they had walked in. His eyes were glued to the commercials about small animatronic toys, a hand reaching out. Deep inside, the mental landscape was like to a dystopian city, except with a massive waving field of gold in the very center of it, where the youthful looking form was curled up as if coocooned, in a fetal position. That form stirred a bit, though, only to have the Robot stroke fingers through his hair to soothe him back into sleep.

In the outside world, he made a soft sound of curiosity as he settled his fingers across the screen, the digits fanning out over the picture of the robotic guard hound. "I know this creature." was all that Reno said before he fell back into silence again. . And when the commercial ended his hand dropped back onto the sofa. He didn't realize that it was a memory from the self deep within.

Cloud simply nodded, the scent of cooking beef filling the apartment in a way that normally would normally have Reno grinning and asking where the beer was, and it stung even more in some ways that there was nothing but the almost childlike activity of reaching his hand out to the screen when he would find something that fascinated him.

"He must be protected" the Robot's tone was firm. "It is too dangerous for him out there. He is damaged, it would destroy him to be out in the world again. He can not allowed to go out in it again." The trauma had been bad, and if the Guardians had any say they would never let the self within awaken again. "He is the last. The world can not lose him."

"I will kill anyone who tries to harm him." The wild one grinned fiercely even as he was chained. "Protect him even from himself." The inner discussion was one that did not bode well for the one that they spoke of . .even if they were simply trying to protect him. The green miasma mist that floated around them was something they were able to draw upon, using the power to keep their charge sleeping.

"I pray that is not needed." The Robot replied, encouraging the curled up body to remain sleeping, gentling and hushing him

Wind whipped the tails of the suit jacket up from the dark pants as sun gleamed off the bald scalp. Rude was digging through the remainder of the rubble, looking for more clues, Elena digging in another section of the building. They had both fallen silent, which is how Rude's sharp ears heard the sudden click from deep within the debris. "Elena, run!" he yelled, and begain running himself, he had recognized that click, it was the sound of a detonator being activated.

As they began to take off there was a sudden whoosh sound, as if of all of the air being sucked out of a room, followed by a loud boom that defeaned them both. The rush of heat at his back triggered Rude to pull Elena into his arms, curling up with her into a protective ball as the scent of sulphar and carbon burned through both of their nostrils.

"Someone doesn't want us searching the auditorium." Elena quipped, standing up and dusting herself off as she noted that there was likely nothing left for them to find inside. "Incindiary device. . .any evidence that was still there has likely been destroyed by the heat. It isn't as expert as one of yours, but. . .it did a damn good job of taking down that building, and almost taking down _us_. It was activated by a remote detonator, which means someone had to have been close enough to trigger it, but they likely fled as soon as they triggered it."

"They might have left something behind though." Rude mused. "Some hair, a bit of the detonator. . .any forensic evidence would be a godsend right now, it could lead us to the full story. Something tells me that the good Doctor is as much a patsy as we were being taken for. But the question is just how deep does the Jumping hole go?"

"I guess the only way to find out. ..is to jump in it, ne?" Elena's face blossomed into a smirk as she spoke those words, derermined now to find everything that she could. "They won't get away with hurting Senpai. I promise you that much."

"Job's done." The one who spoke was shadowed, face hidden by lack of light. "There won't be a shred of evidence left in there. It's too bad I couldn't get the Turks in the explosion, but I made sure not to leave anything that could lead them back to us. Even the detonator if they happened to find it looks damn close to one of their own. Should, they were stolen from them." He chuckled, the sound dark. "Soon enough we'll have everything we want. The Good Doctor will make sure we get it. .. after all we've dangled what she wants right in front of her like a carrot on a string."

"Good. . ." the answering voice was as smooth as whiskey over velvet, a baritone that held a slight Wutain accent to it. "The brat will not even know what hit him by the time we are done with him. . .we will have taken his continent and everyhing on it that once belonged to ShinRa even as his father took our country from us." Smoke curled around the man's head as he matched his lackey with a chuckle equally as dark and forbidding. "Then vengeance will be ours."

_I will watch the smoke rising as we too rise from the ashes like the mythical Phoenix. .. and take our place, the one that should have been ours rightfully_.

"Sir, I regret to inform you that whatever further evidence might have been in the stable was unobtainable." Rude's features were grim as he relayed the news to the President. "But we did find some forensic evidence at the scene. The detonator was stolen from our own stores, which suggests an inside job, but. . ." he held up a baggie with several long dark hairs inside of it. "These were near where we found the detonator. We aren't sure whose they are, but they have the look, weight, and feel of someone who is of Wutain descent."

Tseng's eyes narrowed, then he lifted the bag, his lips pursing in deep thought. "I suppose seeing if there are roots on the hairs is the best tactic now, though I can tell you that even should we catch the ones who set the bomb they are likely to ritual suicide rather than tell you who employed them. My peope are a proud people, Shachou, as I know you know from your own experience."

The blond nodded. "I am aware that they are." Rufus began the rhythmic pacing once more that he often performed when he was troubled or in thought. "Which comes back to helping our comrade heal. He likely has seen things, things that if he had the mind and ability to process those clues properly would likely tell us much. Reno is sharp, intelligent, and highly intuitive. Something we sorely need at the moment and lack due to this mishap." He sighed. The loss was also one of a loss of a friend, and he knew that Tseng knew that, but the loss of that brilliant mind was making it all the more difficult to catch the one who had harmed him, and the rabbit hole was just getting deeper with each discovery they made.

"I will have forensics see if they can get dna off these hairs, sir. In the meanwhile, the chemicals used in the explosion are also being traced, though if the detonator is any indicator, the chemicals may well have been from our own stores as well." Tseng was already texting the forensics team to tell them that there was another bit of evidence coming down for them. "If I may be frank, Shachou. . .this whole situation disturbs me, for reasons I can not right now pinpoint. That Doctor Kimiko asked for Reno specifically now strikes me odd, and I do not know why."

The phone call from her benefactor had spooked Hotaru, even as she was working to try to fix the issue with the robot that had destroyed the stadium in the city. Being asked to sabotage, then to kill if necessary, was not something that sat well with her. . .she would do anything to get her family back, though the deaths at the stadium had been utterly accidental. The order to make sure that the Turk never recovered was not one that she liked, but her family and her life were on the line if she did not, and there was little she could do about it.

"My Aki. . ." she settled a hand on the robot's cheek. "I don't know what to do. You always told me to do what felt right in my heart. . .what does one do when one does not know what that is anymore?" Her eyes were heavy lidded as she tried to calm the pounding in her heart. She didn't want to harm the bright young man that reminded her so much of her husband, Akio, who had always been smiling and laughing, loving his family with a ferocity that most did not understand. He had been a simple man, a soldier, nothing like Hotaru's intellect, but to her it had not mattered. He was the man she loved, and she had devoted herself to him with all of her will.

Memory carried her away like the endless expanse of the rolling sea, back into the corridors of her mind into happier days. Akio had been tall, and broader shouldered than most of the full blood Wutains due to his father having been one of the SOLDIERS who had first come into Wutai, before the war, before all of the destruction that had come after. His mother had loved the spike haired SOLDIER from the East who had come and gone like the wind, but had left the gift of little Akio behind. There had been many born like that in those days.

Hotaru had fallen hard and fast for the SOLDIER's son who had become first a farmer, and then a soldier himself when it had become a matter of picking up arms to protect their homes, families, and land. She'd born their son, Daisuke, during one of the lulls in the fighting, the boy had been the apple of her eye, always laughing and wanting to make others smile. "I wish you were still here, to tell me what I should do. You were always my compass when I was not certain how to handle a situation. I miss you so much."

She sighed, shaking her head and dropping her hand. "I want to believe that this is truly you. . .they promised me that it would be. But now I do not know." The uncertainty just made it all the more difficult to know the right thing to do.

There were murmurs around the Flames of Phoenix meeting hall, some believed their leader was going too far in his fanaticism, while most simply obeyed because it was they felt they should do. One of them, one of the younger members, looked over at one of his friends, shaking his head. "I love our country." the young soldier, slender and short and looking no more than a teenager, started. "But I don't know. He's talking about slaughtering everyone that even has ties to the company. . .down to the women and children. That disturbs me. Does it make us any better than them if we let our own rage consume us?"

The one next to him gestured down with his hands as if to shush him. "I don't like it any more than you do, but I also like living. If the boss hears you we might not be alive very long." The other had long blue black hair with streaks of a chestnut brown in it, his face yet more youthful with a bit of baby fat in his cheeks still. "He's just a bit crazy."

"I know." The response was short and given in a manner that said the boy had experienced said crazy before. "Just starting to wonder if this whole thing is even really worth it." The questioning was something utterly natural for one who did actually have a few shreds of humanity left. "It might almost be better to let ShinRa have it if the boss is an example of what's left of the leadership of our country." he shut up as the door opened, not wanting to take a risk that he might be heard. He shuddered remembering the one who had gone against their leader and what had happened to him.

The boy had been caned, then skinned, and his body hung out in the square as an example of why one did not defy the leader. Micho did not want to be the next one to be punished in such a manner. Instead, he ducked his head, working on the bomb that had been put before him. The thing that kept most of them in line now was fear, and all of the saner ones within the group knew it.

_This was not what I signed up for,_ he thought to himself as he welded the wire down into the electronics of the device. _None of us knew things would go this far when it started, but then again desperation is a sanity killer. Now we're stuck, there's no getting off this ride until it's over, all we can do is hope that we don't end up crashing and burning in the process. And I hope I can protect my brother. If I lost Baku I don't know what I would do. It's what keeps me going, even though I would do anything to be able to escape this Hell. _

"The underlings are getting restless, Chao Min" Katsu, second in command of the Flames of the Phoenix, turned to their leader, an older man with a muscular and toned body and dark almond shaped eyes that even though he was in his mid-fifties were still as sharp and clear as they had been when he had served in Wutai's military fifteen years prior. Katsu himself was in his thirties, trim and lithe with a dancer's grace.

"Worry not, Katsu, my old friend. They do not know of the glory that will come once this is complete. You can not win a war without a few casualities. There may be a few faint of heart, but those few fear me and will not step out of lime due to that fear." Chao Min assured his second in command of that in a very assured tone. "I have struck fear into all, enough that no one would dare to defy us. The single one that betrayed us and the punishment that he received is enough to assure that none will fail until it is all over and too late for any to stop us."

Chao Min shrugged his kimono on. He would make an address to his men later in the evening, get their blood stirred again, make certain that he would crush whatever doubts might remain. Remind them of how horrible ShinRa had been to their people, make them seem like animals. That was how men had had the flames of war fanned from time immemorial, and he doubted that would change any time soon. It was a tactic that simply worked.


	6. Chapter 6

Reno after watching television for a few hours finally rose mechanically from where he had been crouched on the floor, knowing he needed to shower, even if he was not entirely sure why. His lover had gone to get groceries, but seemingly trusted Reno to be able to at least do some basic things for himself without getting himself into trouble. He turned the faucet on, making a soft sound as the warm water ran through his hair and down his back.

"Night hawk sings as the black raven ircles overhead." The smokey tenor rang out in the shower as Reno began washing himself. He'd sung in the shower since he'd been a boy, and it was something almost automatic for him now. "All alone the white lily bends and slowly dies. All across the darkened night sky sail fireflies. Gently lighting shadows that hide a thousand eyes!"

Deep inside his mental prison, the boy that had been curled up around himself in slumber suddenly sat up, rubbing his eyes in curiosity. "Where am I?" the voice was youthful, that of a boy of perhaps ten or twelve. It was the self that Reno had been before his mother had died, before he had killed the ones who had killed her in retaliation and the two who guarded him had been born.

In the outside, as the boy woke, Reno's eyes would begin to show their normal life and vitality. "A dream, dream, no dream. You can feel the forest calling out to you! A dream, dream, no dream. Close your eyes, my darling child."

The Child woke completely, beginning to rise entirely to the surface, curiosity propelling him, as he ignored the shout of warning from the Wild One. The natural curiosity he bore made him want to see and experience everything, but his natural innocence made him a target for those who would use him. Something neither of his guardians wanted to see happen.

The Robot was quick to move, a hand going to his neck and pinching the nerve within so the Child collapsed back into his sleep. He draped a blanket over the little one, and looked over at the wild one. "That was far too close." he said, his expression one of great displeasure. "I do not want him hurt. He is far too vulnerable to be allowed to surface."

In the shower, it was as if Reno was a puppet and someone cut his strings as his eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed against the wall, letting out little more than a sigh as he did, consciousness utterly fleeing the outside world.

Cloud walked back in after going to get groceries to find Reno in the shower, laying against the wall, cold water splashing down over him, his eyes closed. "Shit." he swore quietly. He scrambled to turn off the water and dry him off before getting him dressed, lifting up his phone as he did. "President ShinRa, I came home to Reno passed out in the shower. I don't know what happened, but it's a bit disturbing to me. He's never done this before unless he was injured. I don't know what to think."

Rufus took in a deep breath. "I will call Doctor Ellison. . .bring him here to the new Headquarters. I want to have him looked over by the psycholigist, this is odd behavior, even with him so damaged. " then a shaky sigh echoed over the line. "We've found a few things, Cloud. . .but I can not tell you over the phone, it is far too dangerous. I will speak to you when you get here."

Rufus simply watched through the window, noting the almost stilted, mechanical movements. It hurt him, deeply, more deeply than he had words for, to see someone who had done so much for him and for his company in this state. He looked over to the doctor, his lips narrowed. "Is there anything you can do, any hope at all?" he asked, husky blue eyes closing half way as he ran fingers through blond silk, the fine features and full lips scrunching in concern. His shoes, expensive black dress shoes, made clattering sounds across white tile as he paced near the window.

"We don't know, President ShinRa." the doctor, who was a hotshot in his mid thirties, the best up and coming psychiatrist and therapist on the entire Planet, was speaking in a voice more unsure than Rufus had ever heard from him, as he shook his head, greying chestnut brown spikes swaying as he did. "The trauma was very deep, anyone else would have broken beyond all hope of being put back together again, become completely and irretrievably insane. That he's responsive at all is a miracle."

He had begun the conversation after Cloud had gotten there with Reno and had walked out toward a conference room to wait for Rufus. One of the physicians was looking him over while he talked to the psychotherapist. "Indeed it is. .. " he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I am certain you understand where I am coming from. This man is the closest thing to a brother that I have remaining to me. "

It was with those words that Rufus turned and strode, stiff backed with worry, toward the door.

"Why do you do this, Doctor?" Reno's inquisitive gaze met the physician's. "I am unharmed. Perhaps a bit hungry, and a bit tired, but unharmed." It was if he did not even realize how strange it was that he had been found unconscious under the shower spray, for him to simply pass out the way he had. "May I leave now?"

"Your lover is speaking to your employer at the moment, Mr. Kiribani. As soon as he returns you can go." The older gentleman assured him. He would tell the others what he had found, which was not a whole lot. It was as if his brain had simply shut down, as one would turn off a light switch. An unusual incident, in the doctor's experience, and something that bore closer watching. Doctor Matthews, the physician, wanted to run a few tests, there was something about what had happened that gave him a very odd feeling.

It had likely been a result of a surge in brain activity, resulting in an overload and then a shut down. He had seen it before, but it was rare, and normally not something with a psychological cause. _I need to talk to the President when he finishes with Mr. Strife._

"We found evidence of the use of mako at the site." Rufus' lips pressed together as he broke that to Cloud. "Though we are not certain what it was being used for. . .it was raw, not refined. Which in the wrong hands would be even more dangerous." He knew that Cloud would know very well how dangerous that could be.

The look that Cloud's face bore at the news, jaw set, brows drawn down, mouth pressed tight, as well as the heightened color that brushed over his cheeks, spoke easily of how he felt about it. "I'd ask how I know it's not you, Rufus, but I know you wouldn't risk Reno. I still don't completely trust you, but I'm pretty sure you know that. The one thing I do trust is that you care about my lover enough not to do something that had a high risk of bringing him harm."

Rufus set a hand on his shoulder. "We will find the one responsible. I still have my suspicions that Doctor Kimiko is a pawn in this, is being used. The ones ultimately behind it must be found. I promise you this. . .I will do all in my power to be certain that the ones who have done this pay the full price for their crime."

Both of them looked up as an explosion rocked the nearby block, concrete and glass sailing toward them at a very high rate of speed, Cloud pushing Rufus to the floor as the window shattered, shielding him from the glass and from the debris that had thrust themselves through the large expanse of it that stretched across the wall outside of Rufus' office.

"You know when I doubted you, Rufus?" Cloud quipped as he got off the blond in the white suit, helping him to his feet. He looked over at the building across the street with the smoking hole in the side of it, whistling at the damage.

"Yes?" Rufus brushed off his suit as he too took in the damage to the office tower across the street from the new ShinRa building, already calculating in his head the amount it would cost to fix it so that he could make sure that it got done. It would be done on his dime, after all it had been destroyed by someone who had been after him, which made it his responsibility.

"Forget I said anything. I was pretty sure you wouldn't do anything to hurt Reno, but I know damn well you have enough self preservation instinct that you wouldn't do anything to get yourself killed. You can be a little crazy sometimes, but unless you count that jump from the old tower suicidal you're not."

Reno even as the doctor had ducked for cover had simply sat there, even as the building rattled around him, completely unaware there had been any danger at all. When he walked out to the others, his lips merely pursed as he looked out at the other building, his expression clearly asking just what had happened.

"Tseng, I want you and Rude to go examine the bank across from us." Rufus called them over the in house intercom. "That explosion was entirely too close to us for me to feel as if it wasn't a warning of some kind."

The doctor took Rufus and Cloud aside. "I'd like to keep Reno here for some testing. I know most of it is likely psychological in nature, but the fact that he passed out afterward concerns me. I want to be certain there is no physical damage. A normal EEG would set me much more at ease."

"Do it." Rufus' command was direct. If any physical damage could be ruled out they could concentrate on the psychological damage which would very much simplify things. In the meanwhile they would find the ones who had been sent to do this, and question them. "And Cloud, as soon as we have caught the ones who did this. .. I want your consent to allow Reno to see them. If there is one there that he might recognize, even in his damaged condition. . .it may trigger something that may lead us to the rest of them."

"I don't know if that is such a good idea." Cloud's tone was doubtful. "We both know that Reno's not really all that mentally stable even during the best of circumstances. . .if something should trigger him in the less than pleasant way. .. .Goddess only knows what might happen."

"I won't let anything bad happen, Strife, stop worrying so much." The change to the surname would speak volumes about how resolute Rufus was that this was going to happen, regardless of whether Cloud liked it or not. Rufus was determined that they would get some clue that would help them find their suspects.

He had no idea how right Cloud was to be worried.


	7. Chapter 7

"The warning has been sent." Katsu bowed to Chao Min. "Even if they catch the ones who have done it, they have been ordered to kill themselves rather than talk, there will be no way to link them back to us. . . until you want them to."

"Good. . .fantastic work, Katsu." He set a hand on his second's shoulder. "I knew that I could count on you to make sure that it was done right." The hookah was lifted from the table and smoke curled out from it, wrapping around their heads. He looked out over the looted ruins of their capital. . .even after so long it had still not been returned to its former glory. Yes, Godo had been working to help make that happen, but in Chao Min's opinion it was far too slow for his taste. "How goes the work on our army?"

"The first ones should be ready within the week, my leige. Doctor Kimiko has been called and she knows that if she is to have what she wants, we are to get what we want."

"Wonderful. I look forward to. . .watching them work." a devious smile quirked up the corners of Chao Min's mouth.

"It was as I suspected." The neurologist gestured at the print out for the tests he had done with the EEG and the stress test, the films spread out over Rufus' desk. "Part of his brain is overloading during times of extreme stress or emotion. . .causing an electrical storm which causes him to lose consciousness. There is no structural damage being done, I can assure you of that much. It's a symptom of the psychological trauma attempting to mend itself."

Rufus looked thoughtful at that. "I wanted to be certain that beginning treatment would not harm him. Now that I see that it will not. . .I want to do so as quickly as possible." The information the Turk bore could very well catch them a killer before things escalated to a scale they would not longer be able to control, and that was the thing he wanted more than anything. The explosion at the bank had told him he needed to step this investigation up.

He and Cloud's heads both turned as Rude drug a man through the door, his hands chained behind him. "He had a suicide capsule on him, just as the Director had suspected he would, Sir." The bald man tossed the cyanide capsule out on the desk, immediately reporting in as he'd been instructed, and led him back to the interrogation room. What none expected was for the reaction from the redhead who had been quietly and silently leaning against a wall outside of the door.

Inside, the Child woke and suddenly started crying, the Wild One breaking free of his bonds and rising to the surface. Both guardians knew if the Child was crying danger was very close, and the Wild One had thirsted for a chance for this.

On the outside, in a motion too fast for anyone to track or even begin to try to stop, the teal eyes began to blaze with a bright mako glow, the look on Reno's face going from blank to mad, almost wicked, and his arm snapped out, drawing the bound man to him, teeth going to his neck and latching down on his throat.

The dissident gurgled as those teeth sank all the way in, blood filling his throat as he struggled to get free. "Call off your attack dog! This guy's insane!" the Wutain managed to get out, as trails of scarlet fluid ran down his chin. The pressure of the bite was beginning to crush his trachea, which was not a way he wanted to die.

Rude grabbed Reno, trying to get him to let loose of the man, but his jaw was set tight in the way that a bulldog's would be. He refused to let go.

The Robot moved fast, grabbing the Wild One and chaining him back against the gate and rising to the surface himself. The switching caused Reno's eyes to lose that insane brightness and his face took on a confused look as his teeth fell from the man's throat, and he looked over at Cloud, asking simply "Why is the man bleeding, and why is there blood in my mouth? I do not understand."

"He had no memory of having tried to kill the guy." Cloud's tone was incredulous. "He just let go like nothing happened and has no memory of it. Now try to tell me he's not dangerous, Rufus, that even thinking of letting him ino an interrogation is a good idea! He just snapped! What happens if he does end up killing someone? Do you really want to take that chance?" He groaned. "Just as things were starting to look like he and I might have a chance at some normalcy, something like this happens."

"Of course I don't! What in the world do you take me for, Strife? My father? I am certainly not him and have done everything I can to get away from his methods! Yes, I wanted to rule the world through fear once, but things change when you nearly watch the world burn and realize it is the fault of your company and the methods that were used to make it the power that it was!" Rufus ran long fingered hands through his hair. "Look, Reno's best chance at remaining somewhat stable until the psychologist can get a full read on his condition is for all of us to remain calm, to give him a more stable atmosphere in which he can stay. I know how you feel about him, and I will do all in my power to be sure that he is returned to you. .. as he should be."

"I'm going to hold you to that promise, Rufus," Sky blue eyes, glowing with the Planet's energy, narrowed. "If you don't keep it, you won't like what I might do in retaliation. I protect what's mine now. I failed Zack, I failed Aerith. I won't fail him. Even when I have to protect him from his own family." One of his hands touched the massive broadsword on his back in an unspoken threat as he walked out of the office to go take his lover home.

"I don't know anything." the wutain male told Rude as the Turk cracked his knuckles. "All I know is that a guy named Katsu paid me a lot of gil to drop a package in that building. He didn't tell me what it was, told me not to ask any questions. You must understand. I am a poor man, I have very little. My main desire is to make sure my wife and children have enough to eat. If it kills a few of you that pushed our world and my country into destitution, so much the better." He spat Rude, eyes narrowed at the corners.

Rude's round dark eyes narrowed a bit behind the dark lenses. He hated dealing with extremists, it struck his temper more than anything else, and it was hard as Hell to make him mad. "You know, just because some of us worked for the man that harmed this planet doesn't mean we agreed with his views." The words came out a drawl. "But you know, if you don't have any information for us there's no use keeping you alive."

The man's eyes widened, but he just shook his head. "You think I fear death, lapdog? There was a reason I had a cyanide capsule with it. I do not fear death for an honoable cause." He simply stared up into the dark lenses. "Not that you of ShinRa would know anything about honor." Dark amber eyes narrowed even more as he gave Rude an appraising look.

"You'd be surprised." came the return shot as the tall, stocky bald man walked out of the cell to report to Rufus what he'd been told. The set of the lantern shaped jaw told very clearly that Rude was not happy.

"He claims he was told to put the parcel in the building and walk out, and that he was paid well to do so." Rude's report was succinct and to the point. "His breathing and body language say he was telling the truth."

Rufus nodded, dropping into thought. "Our adversary has gotten smarter. Use those who have nothing to lose, and those who will not ask the reasoning for what they are doing." Long, slender fingers toyed with a jewel that he had owned for years. It was a nervous habit, one of the few that the President displayed. The motion helped him think. "Make sure there is a camera on him at all times, but make certain he does not realize it is there. He may give something away if he feels he is completely alone, and we need every clue that we can get."

The second phone call came in to Hotaru shortly after the bomb had exploded in Edge, demanding a speed up in production of the robots. "I want my son." her voice was firm, and though she wanted to trust her employers, she really didn't trust them as much as they would probably like. Doubt had begun to creep in, doubt that they would fulfill what they had promised, though she still very much wanted to hold onto that hope.

"You will get him when the job is complete, not a moment earlier, Doctor Kimiko. You knew that when this all began." The voice on the phone countered. "Honor your portion of the bargain, and we shall honor yours." The connection was severed with a definitive click.

Hotaru's mouth drew into a thin line. _Goddess forgive me for what I must do but I would do anything for my son and for my husband. Anything._

Cloud had gone to the Seventh Heaven after Reno had fallen asleep, needing a drink and just someone to talk to. He was under a huge amount of stress, not surprisingly at all. The drink that was mixed and put in front of him made him look up. Tifa's wine colored eyes peered down at him. "You need to forgive yourself." were the first words she said.

She started cleaning the glasses as she watched Cloud nurse his drink. "I know you think that you should have watched over Reno better. . .that you failed him because he got hurt. But if you hold onto that guilt, Cloud, you won't do him any good. He needs you strong, he needs you on point. If you weaken now, you won't be in your face _there_ for him when he needs you."

"Tifa, I. . ." he sighed, looking down into the glass. "I should have been there. I know you say I couldn't have known, but I had a strange feeling from the beginning that something was going to go wrong. If I'd spoken up, maybe. . .maybe it wouldn't have happened." a headshake followed that. . ."I'm being stupid, aren't I?"

"I wouldn't say stupid, but you need to remember that he would not want you to feel so guilty. He lives as he'd want to live, and that sometimes involves some risk. That's the way it is."


	8. Chapter 8

Reno had been left sleeping when Cloud had gone to see Tifa, but none knew of the internal conversation going on. "He must at all costs be protected." The Robot reiterated. "The balance of this world depends on at least one being alive and healthy." He gave the Wild One a stern look. "That means no more of those outbursts like today. That will draw attention, and that is the last thing we need."

The Wild One made a grunting noise. "The man was a threat. I took care of the threat. That is all." He had enjoyed doing it, immensely, but he wasn't about to admit that out loud. "It wasn't as if it was something all that unusual for him, anyway, he kills and eliminates threats on a regular basis."

"People are starting to notice that things are off kilter." The Robot's eyes narrowed at the corners. "If you make it that much more obvious protecting the Child will be made all the more difficult." He turned toward the outside world. "His power will be needed, it must not be squandered until the proper time."

Rufus at the same time that Cloud was talking to Tifa watched on a vid screen as the man they had caught went through his day. He had a thought to release the man, with a tracking device implanted on him, something he would talk to the remainder of his Turks on shortly. But for now. . .he worried for his friend, and how they would help him heal.

_Rufus_, the voice was almost ethereal, feminine. Aerith, the Cetra who had brought about Holy to save the world from Meteor and had died in the doing, still remained as a ghost in the Lifestream that would appear when she was needed by the Planet to impart a thing, or to make certain things went as they should. _Please, do not worry so much for the details. Protect my cousin, he will be needed. The rest will work itself out when it is time to. There is a reason for the things that happen, even if they are difficult. _

He did hear, but he shook his head, as if he wasn't sure what to think. It was more of an impression upon his mind than something he fully understood or absorbed. The thought and message to be sure Reno was protected came through loud and clear, though, making him yet more determined to do so.

"They caught one of our bombers, sir." Katsu looked out to the sun setting over the mountains of Dao Chao, his mouth thinned in concern. "They managed to get his cyanide capsule from him. He does not know who hired him, but for my name, but I want to know what you would like me to do."

"Eliminate him." came Chao Min's order. "I know that you can get into and out of ShinRa's prisons without being caught. Make sure that he dies before he can give away even that much." The hardened warrior was in his hikama when Katsu had entered, performing a set of routine katas that kept his body in shape, his hair tied back in the traditional soldier's bun. The room itself was designed in typical Wutain fashion, with a screen of red silk behind with Chao Min normally changed in one corner, the walls decorated in red satin, and paper lanterns of red embroidered in gold hanging from the ceilings.

The area itself was redolent with the scent of incense, such as one would find in a temple. The well built man turned, speaking a few words in Wutain that called his servant over with the towel, which he used to wipe the sweat from his face.

Katsu bowed deeply, the long hair, black as night, falling into his face as he did so, broad shoulders leading down into the otherwise lithe and agile body. "Yes sir." he affirmed. "I will make sure it is done quickly." He turned and walked out, pulling out his phone and giving the order.

Two charges were set by black-clad figures in the middle of the night outside of the cell where the one the Turks had caught was being held, "Quiet and careful now." one told the other. "Should we get caught before our job is done it will be bad for us and our cause. . .failure is not an option."

The other simply nodded as the charges removed the lock, the door opening and waking the one within. The man sat up from his cot. "You've come to free me?" the smile of a man who had not expected rescue touched his mouth.

The question was answered by the blade that was quickly shoved between his ribs, piercing his heart and killed him almost instantly. The man had time to do little more than sigh before his body dissolved into the energy from which it had been formed upon his conception. The fact that these weapons instantly broke the body apart made the kills so much more neat, a fact that the two men knew Katsu appreciated.

The two nodded at one another and left the way they had come. By the time ShinRa came in the morning they would find little more than an empty cell.

Morning came to find Reno leaning against the wall on the balcony of he and Cloud's apartment, watching the sun come up with all of the wonder of a child gleaming in the teal eyes. Cloud had to admit that the way the sun made all of the various shades of red in the long hair glow like a halo around his head. _It looks like a flame that way, all lit from within. Oranges and reds and golds. I don't realize just how beautiful he is half the time because he just doesn't sit still_.

"It's time for breakfast, Reno." he called out. Cloud did not yet know what had happened at the prison, that would come in a while. . .for now they would enjoy one another's company. .. or so the blond hoped. He had put out of his mind the thing that happened back at ShinRa, he no longer wanted to think about any of that. "I made your favorite, chocolate chip pancakes." The scent of chocolate and butter and maple filled the place as the redhead turned, rising from the porch.

Bare feet padded across plush baby blue carpeting and then slapped against marble tile as the Turk walked into the eat in kitchen and settled at the table. "They smell very good. Thank you." The face held the blank expression that it had since the accident, but the tone was very much sincere. The hands moved with those almost mechanical motions, cutting the pancakes, lifting them to his mouth, and chewing.

He was utterly innocent of what would soon be coming. . .and of the role that he would play in it all. A hand reached up to wipe his mouth with the napkin next to the plate and the motion was so childlike it made Cloud's heart ache. He reached out, brushing Reno's hair back from his face, and though he smiled it held an element of sadness. _I love you. . .but how to even say it in a way you would understand ?_

The teal eyes closed, Reno's body relaxing at the touch. He still knew what felt good, even if he didn't have a lot of his normal emotion and fire. Cloud had always known how to reach him even when things were at their worst.

"I do not understand what it is you make happen inside of me. . .it feels. . .strange." the words, like someone who had never been in love before trying to find a way to explain it. "It makes me feel like I could float, warm and light." He set his hand on his chest, not knowing how to explain it other than that.

"That's love." Cloud told him, a slight smile lifting the corners of his mouth. "You may not understand it right now, but that's ok. You will, once you're well again." The promise, spoken quietly and in a tone that said he was hopeful that Reno would be well again. He did not realize that there was another watching them, not yet.

_Watch over him, Cloud_, Aerith had followed her cousin home. _He has a lot of work to do, though he doesn't know that yet. It's going to be hard, and he will have to stand strong, but I know with your help and support he can do everything that he must. You just have to keep him believing, just a little while longer. I'll do all I can to protect him from here._

Rufus was stone faced as he saw the empty cell. He was fairly sure he knew what had happened, though who it was that had broken in and killed their witness was still a mystery. "We are not safe even here now. Something has to be done, they must be found, and they must be stopped. But they seem to be thwarting us at every turn. This is not something I like."

Tseng bowed his head. He hated that he had failed his Shachou, but there was not much to be done now. "I will not fail you again." he told Rufus. "This has become a much larger situation than we ever dreamed it would." His expression became similarly firm as he began to go through the security footage from the night before. He was bound and determined that he was going to find the people who had done this so that they could lead them back to the ones who were ultimately in control of the whole thing.

"Doctor Kimiko, the first lot of robots are ready for testing." one of her assistants strode up to her with the report that the units had been completed and were waiting for her orders for them to field tested.. The assistant ruffled his fingers through his shaggy chestnut brown hair. He could sense Hotaru's unease, but didn't say anything He knew her well enough to know that if she was in a mental state of that sort that questioning her was a bad idea. She was highly temperamental and unpredictable.

"Thank you." was all she said, amber eyes scanning over the report with a distant look in them. In truth, she did not agree with the violence these machines represented. Her wish was to bring life, not to steal it away. _They were intended to make life easier, to give an existence of luxury and happiness. How did I get sucked into such a thing? Is it even prudent or worthwhile to ask why men do the things that they do? _

She shook her head as if to shake the thoughts away as she walked out to the factory floor to personally inspect the first lot of robot soldiers, checking two or three to be certain that all was in order. These were new designs, and she knew well that glitches and faults were common in first runs of a new product. _I do not wish my own people harmed if something goes wrong. _Her workforce was like to a family for her, they were what she had left after what had happened. _I still hate ShinRa for what they have done. But. ..I am not sure I like that so many innocents will die to get what Chao Min wants_.

An order was given in Wutain, and the machine at the head of the group turned on, the eyes glowing blue from within. These were not special, not in the way her Aki had been, they had an AI much more like that of Cait Sith, only more advanced, able to act on its own and process information to act on the fly.

Soon, they were marching across the field in formation, perfectly following the orders that she gave them. Each of them fell in line, soon the maneuvers were complete "This batch will be delivered tomorrow. Tell Katsu, however, that I want what he promised me as soon as they reach him." she told the young man who was helping here get them ready for delivery.

"Yes ma'am." he nodded, bowing to her in the traditional Wutain fashion as his slender body moved to begin disassembling the mechanoids and packing them. He was also somewhat uncomfortable with the purposes for which they would be used, but like his boss he knew it was not his place to question it. Death came calling for those that did so, and he was far too young to find himself in the Lifestream as of yet.

Deep in the Lifestream, there was a stirring. A council was being called of those who had served the Planet before, the Summons who were for the most part fully sentient weapons among those who were there.

Shiva was sitting in a way that made it appear as if she was sitting on a bench in midair, while Phoenix and Ifrit both paced. She understood well Phoenix's concern, he had a personal connection to the boy that would have to step up when push came to shove. Ifrit simply had trouble staying still for any significant length of time, one quality about her mate which amused the ice-based summon, even if she didn't show it often.

"You know they won't let him be harmed, Phoe." Shiva brushed her blue hair back out of her eyes, the crystals in the braids in the back tinkling as she did. "I understand why you're as worried as you are, you've been with him since he was a mere child, but he has Minerva's blessing, and he has a purpose. It won't be like what happened with Aerith."

Phoenix shook his head. Here in this ethereal realm he was able to mold his form, and his more human appearance was that of a young, slender man in his mid twenties, with hair as red the flickering flames that Ifrit wiedled, and eyes as green as the Lifestream itself. "He is the last now. His road won't be an easy one, but then again the road of one of those who choose to serve Minerva as his people were meant to never is. But being damaged makes it harder."

The last to enter had hair that looked like spun gold, and wore a pure white dress with gold trim on it, and a head dress also of gold. All of the summons present stood and bowed in respect at her entrance, this was their Goddess, the bringer of Life, and they would give her the respect she was due. "Sit, all of you." The voice that came from Minerva was a rich alto, reverberating and multi-tonal. "We are coming to a crisis point, but I am certain all of you know this."

She drew her hand across a place in the air, and what looked like a screen formed out of the green river around them. "There have been disturbances in the Lifestream. .. instances of lifeforces, of souls, simply disappearing from it. The last time this happened was when ShinRa was using mako energy, but I have been watching them, it is not them. These disturbances, should they come to a head, could very well stir forces that we have managed to keep sleeping through the sheer amount of spirit energy and number of cleansed and strong souls within the swell. A resurgance of Jenova or of Sephiroth is the last thing any of us want. "

"Humans are good at destroying things." came Ifrit's deep, rumbling voice. "Though I know that the rest of you will say it is only a small fraction, and that some are not so bad as others. But the true question, I know, is how a stop is put to it. That is why we were called here, since our responsibility is to protect the cycle of life."

"That is precisely why you have been called here." Minerva looked to each and every one of them, ger expression firm. "ShinRa was once our enemy, but now they may be our only hope of stopping this before it gets too serious. They care for the last of my Children, as does my Champion. Genesis became lost to me, and I was forced to choose another, and he has been faithful, but without his Balance he will not be able to do what must be."

Her hand gestured along the screen. "There are at present four possible outcomes. One is best, two are workable but not so good, and the last well. . ." a fiery explosion and the withdrawing of the Lifestream from the Planet altogether to start again showed on the screen. "As it is not yet time. . .and we have no yet finished cleansing the Calamity from the flow, the last scenario is one that we can not afford to have befall us."

A silence fell over the gathered guardians as they watched the spectacle before their eyes, all of them solemn, Phoenix looking utterly stricken, as he was the guardian of life and rebirth. To see such things, even if he knew they were part of the ebb and flow cycle of life, saddened him. "This can not be allowed to happen. The Child must be prepared."


	9. Chapter 9

As the first shipment of the robots was delivered Hotaru demonstrated them for Chao Min, though her head is lowered out of respect for him, as is tradition among the Wutai people. They performed perfectly, but he looked to her, noting they were not like the first one. "Where is their fire?" he asked her, as if he did not trust that she had fully delivered. "They do not act as your prototype, they do not have the same intelligence or resourcefulness. I specially desired ones just like your prototype, an army that could think and act for itself."

"It will take time to perfect them." she told the warlord. "There are things that can not be done in a day. You asked for the robots, I have given them to you. They act as you specified, they are able to think for themselves, and they have self awareness. That was what you asked for, was it not?" Hotaru knew she was taking a chance by speaking to the man as she was, but she felt that she had to. She knew what he wanted, but to play about with raw mako in that way more than she had already was playing with fire. Even she was wise enough to know that.

Chao Min frowned darkly, before one hand reached out and backhanded her. "You do not speak in such a way to me, woman. I do not even allow my most trusted associates to use such a tone with me. Do it again and I may do something that you will not at all like. Men have been killed by me for less, you are fortunate that I need your skills still."

Hotaru gasped, raising a hand to her cheek over the place where he had slapped her. "Yes, yes, sir, of course." Her body trembled with the sudden shot of terror that seized her nerves and locked up her muscles, her voice shaking on the words, almost stuttering. "I will not do so again." She tried her best to keep her dignity when in all honesty she wanted to run in that moment and never look back again, the man frightened her that much. "Forgive me, please." She bowed, trying to make her heart stop beating its way out of her chest.

"See to it that you do not forget again. Now, fix my army. I do not care about the cost to do so, in time, in money, or in consequences. I want them to be what I was promised. If you want what I have promised you you will do as you have been told. Is that understood?"

"Yes, yes, of course." As Chao Min finally backed off her Hotaru scarmbled to escape and walked out of the room as quickly and with as much dignity as she was able, glad that she had survived and that she still had a chance to regain her son.

"He was sitting against the wall of the building, as if there was nothing in the world unusual about it." Cloud had a cup of coffee in front of him as he talked to his childhood friend, glad that he could still vent to her this way despite everything that had happened between them. He'd left Reno with Rude. After the last incident he didn't trust leaving his lover alone anymore at all. The thought of walking in to him passed out again, water rushing over him, made Cloud's heart want to rise up into his throat, the sensation of it choking.

"I just don't know what to think or what to do anymore." he murmured. "I miss having him. . .be well. . ._him_. I know after what happened I'm being selfish and unrealistic, but I can't help but wonder if he'll ever recover." Long fingers ruffled through blond spikes, and the rubbed at sky blue eyes. If Cloud had to be perfectly honest with himself he had not slept at all well since all of it had started, half expecting to wake up and find something terrible had happened to Reno because in that state of mind he didn't seem to know better than to do things he shouldn't.

"Have faith in him, Cloud." Tifa assured him. "If anyone can recovr from this, it's Reno. You know it, and I know it. He just needs people to believe in him enough to make it happen." She wiped down the counter in front of him, trying her best to stay close, but not to crowd him. She knew how Cloud was, if you crowded him he'd run. It was the way he'd been since he had been a boy. "He's strong, stronger than anyone. It's probably how he's put up with you so long, hmm?"

The tone was teasing, and the blond couldn't help the chuckle that came as it flowed over his ears. "He's more patient than I would be." If there was one thing Reno had taught Cloud, it was how to laugh at himself, and it was something he was grateful for every day. "And I suppose I don't thank him enough for that patience."

"No, you don't." Tifa quipped, a smile, despite her worry, coming to her lips. "But he'd forgive you for it, it's how he is." Her mind thought back to how she had found out that number one, Cloud was bisexual, and that number two, he wasn't in love with her, for all that she had dreamed that he someday would fall for her.

She had been angry, and hurt. He'd been staying in the upstairs bedroom above the bar at the time, and when he'd told her, which she supposed in retrospect she should give him credit for respecting her enough to be up front with her, she'd taken all of his possessions, packed them into garbage bags, and thrown them into the alley outside of the Seventh Heaven, telling him to get the Hell out of her bar.

Of course once she'd gotten past the upset and jealousy and seen how the two were with each other, she'd forgiven Cloud, and had acted as the best friend he seemed to need so much since. A service she was glad to provide.

"Just support him, be there for him. When it's time, you'll know what to do. That going by the seat of your pants has never let you down before, right?" She smiled a bit, tossing the rag back into the drawer where she stored them.

Hotaru was back at work in her laboratory several hours later. She had been given the essences of the ones that Chao Min wanted used, and as uncomfortable as she was with doing what she had been asked, she felt she had no other choice now but to obey. _I must have my son back to me. . .but I must know why Aki did the things that he did. I can not allow such a thing to happen again. _

The containers full of glowing green were inserted into the chest chambers of the robots, the eyes flashing on for a single moment, and them going black again. . .the inert appearance making it obvious that their life was banked. . .for the moment.

The stillness was almost eerie to her, though. . .and she half-wondered who these people had been in life, and how they would react to being alive again, but in this form. After all, being something other than human would be jarring once they realized the full extent.

_I will need to make sure that nothing bad happens. I don't like the feeling I get from Chao Min, he has threatened me,. That makes me very unhappy_. The thought made her frame tense, her mouth thinning in an expression of fury.

What she did not see was how the eyes of her beloved prototype had lit up behind her, gleaming in the dark room.

Green eyes the shade of fresh young leaves peered out into the aether as more souls left. Minerva's concern became palpable as the Lifestream became yet more unstable, feeling the stirrings of the WEAPONS made her frown in worry. They only awakened if they felt there was a true threat to the Planet, so if they came to complete consciousness it was a very bad sign. _This can not go on much longer. Something must be done. What, even I, a Goddess, am not entirely sure yet, but if this keeps on our world will be in true peril. _

Rude watched from the kitchen as Reno sat on the sofa, his blank expression was disturbing to the bald man, especially as he had gotten to know the curious, lively man that he'd been partnered with since Reno had been a mere fiteen.

Within, there was another discussion going on, much like the one that had been between the summons, The Robot's face showed his own concern, jaw clenched, lips pressed thin, eyes narrowed, brows furrowed. "Things are moving faster than we anticipated." he looked over at the Child, whose sleep had begun to become restless and troubled. "We may have to step up the program to get him strong enough for what is coming."

"Things are moving." The Wild One agreed. "Faster than we anticipated. It's going to be difficult to avoid things becoming messy. The Spirits are already being brought up, stirred from their rest and directed into these machines. I do not know how long It will take until we reach a point of no return." The Child's sleep had become yet more restless, and neither of them were sure how much longer they could keep him in the stasis. "He begins waking, and it becomes harder to send him back to sleep each time. This can not continue much longer."

"If he wakens before it is time. . .the results coukd be catastrophic." The robot's tone was serious. "It can not be allowed to happen, under any circumstances."

News of an eruption of Lifestream in an area outside of Junon reached Rufus, and his lips pressed together in concern. If it encroached into the city people could end up dead and that was the last thing he wanted. .. to lose some of the people that he had taken under his charge. "Tseng, I want you to take Rude to Junon and investigate. A surge of raw Lifesream is not something the happens often, and it is a very dangerous thing."

Tseng bowed. "Yes sir." He knew as well as Rufus how dangerous such a thing was, that if too many people came in contact with it they could have an epidemic the likes of which had not been seen in a long while. Not something anyone wanted. His call to Rude was answered with an "On it as soon as Cloud gets back."

"He'll be on his way shortly, sir." He told the President. Tseng shared Rufus' worry, but for that moment he knew that losing his cool would not help anyone.

Once Rude had gotten there Tseng watched ouit the window as Rude drove, dropping into thought. Things were getting complicated, and the Wutain was not entirely sure how to deal with it. _This could lead to another war, and it is one that we now do not have the ability to fight. Our SOLDIER operatives disappeared with Genesis, with Angeal, Zack, and Sephiroth. Cloud will fight for us because of Reno, but will he be enough? I do not know._

The thoughts and worries were ones that only became deeper as they reached Junon. The tlower sections had been swamped by Lifestream, and the supports holding up the upper sections were beginning to be corroded by the green lake that had invaded it. Tseng gasped, shock the only emotion that would come to him at that time. Even as a hardened Turk, seeing things such as this still took his feet out from under him. "Rufus must be told what has happened here. . .and we need to find out what caused the Lifestream surfge that brought this to be. If it keeps happening. . Many will be in danger."

Rude's own expression was firm. He inwardly was as stunned as Tseng at what he had seen, but he had never been as emotive, and even now the most that he would allow was the tensing of his jaw and grinding of his teeth He did nod in Tseng's direction, hiding well the tact that his mind was going wild within. _The scent of death is strong here, stronger than it's ever been, even in the slums during the worst of Midgar's past. This can never happen again. It's too horrible. _

"We help the ones we can. . .and bury the bodies of the dead. It is all we can do now." Tseng's eyes scanned across the field, and his face held true sorrow for everything he had seen.

Rude's nod held a bit of a sad tinge to it as he began to lift up the mako soaked bodies and dig graves, setting the bodies into them, one by one. It was sad and grave work, work which by the time he was done left him wanting to be anywhere else but where he was. "I think that's all of them, sir." the bald man looked across the stretch of ground that almost three hours later was free of bodies. He went to the bucket of water that Tseng had set out and washed the last of the viscious green fron his hands before it dug into his bloodstream fully and buiilt up to the point of poisoniing him.

Hotaru watched through the rear of the car as Junon faded from sight, her eyes wide with shock. As soon as she had activared the single robot for field testing with the new power pack there had been a rumble from beneath her feet and the earth had begun to crack. She had very quickly ordered the unit to shut down and loaded into a nearby truck as they fled town, just as soon as the car had pulled away from the seaside city the cracks in the earth had become complete and mako had exploded out of them, completely flooding the slums area with the raw energy, most of the people exposed becoming almost immediately severely mako poisoned, those who had had the chance to flee watching as their homes were destroyed.

_What have I done? _Was her only thought, horror and guilt and grief flooding her. So many innocent people losing their homes and their lives as a result of something she had done. It didn't sit well with her at all. _I only wanted my family back. . .this was not anything at all what I wanted._ "The test was a success, Chao Min." she told her employer over the phone. "But I can not do anymore. An eruption of raw mako engulfed the town where my factory was located, I lost the majority of my workers and equipment. The entire slums area was entirely wiped out, perhaps ten percent of the population survived the eruption unharmed."

"I don't care about those peasants, so long as it was succesful." Chao Min dismissed the Eastern fisherman with little more than a soft snort. "Most of them are ShinRa sympathizers anyway, why would I care about their fatte? But if it bothers you so much, killing a few animals, I will find you a place to work that you will much better suit your. . .sensitive nature. Just make certain you get me those robots!" He hung up on her, not caring about her feelings in the matter nor that she was upset by the number of deaths that had occurred as a result of trying to finalize his plans. He hung up on her, leaving her to emootionally pick up her own pieces and not caring at all that she was upset.

"Bastard." she spat as she hung up as well, half-tempted to turn herself in to spite him, but knowing that she wouldn't. _My family needs me, even if I hate t8he price I must pay to be there for them. I am not the one who does not hold in my heart the remorse for the destruction that has been caused. I will remember them for the rest of my life_.

"The whole town was gone." Rude reported to Rufus. "Tseng and I buried all of the bodies, but most were either dead, badly enough mako poisoned that they soon will be, and the rest are now looking for new homes. It's hard to tell what might have caused the eruption, we'll do more investigating as soon as it's safe to spend more than a few hours at a time on the ground there." He was still not happy at all at what had happened, hardened or not. That amount of death had been utterly needless.

"Understood." Rufus took on a deeply thoughtful look while listening to Rude. He remembered well the last time there had been such an eruption of the lifestream. It had been in Mideel. . .and in reaction to the WEAPONS beginning to wake to protect the planet. They did not care whether there were humans present in the places they were attempting to cleanse or not. They only cared if the danger they had been set to protect against had been eliminated,

Of course, the last time that they had wakened. . .Sephiroth had been ressurected. . .or rather Jenova using Sephiroth's face and body and appearance, but quibbling about that made no difference. That threat was the last thing that Rufus figured any of them needed. _I will say nothing to Cloud until I know for certain. That was, I fully believe, part of the mistake I made when the remnants came. I told him that Sephiroth might have had something to do with it before I knew for absolute certain. I will not make that same mistake twice. But at the same time. .. I must be cautious. _

"I want you to check on your partner once you have cleaned yourself up thoroughly. We both know very well what he is. ..what bloodline he carries. With these disturbances in the lifestream it's possible that he has been affected, and the last thing I wish is for Cloud Strife to be angered when we may have need of him. " _He may also be able to tell us. . .something. . .even if the condition that he is in. And it is better to know than to fly blind. I have no intention to be caught with my pants down, so to speak. There is far too much at stake. _

Reno's head had popped up from the counter where he had been sitting once Rude had left, a soft keening sound slipping from his throat. He could feel the stirrings from beneath his feet, and the it could be told because the keening noise was one that had a distressed sound to it, as he also began rocking back and forth on the stool. Due to his half-cetra heritage he could feel the surges in the Lifestream, but he wasn't sure how to fully process them. His mind was too fractured to even begin to understand what he was sensing and feeling, thus the soft keening and rocking rhythm that spoke of his distress clearly.

Cloud sprung from his seat, wrapping his arms tight around his lover, trying to reassure him the best he could that everything was going to be all right, though he really wasn't sure that it ever would be again. The gentle rocking motion seemed to sooth the redhead into a deep slumber, and he lifted Reno up and carried him into their bedroom, crling up tightly around him. "I got you, Ren." he reassured fingers running through the bright red strands.

The blond lmew well what sort of condition Reno was in, and just a slight mental disturbance could set him back months in his recovery. It was the last thing the former trooper wanted to see happen. "It's going to be all right. .. I promise." he murmured into Reno's ear, eyes fluttering softly closed as he held him. "I won't let anything or anyone harm you."

Inside, Reno's mind had run riot, the Child fully awake and screaming in terror, the Wild One rattling against his bonds, trying to desperately to free himself. The surge had done bad things to the keen senses of the half-cetra, driving the fractured poritions of his mind crazy with the overload.

"Both of you, calm, down!" Came the sharp bark from the Robot. "it will calm shortly and things will settle down again. But losing your senses over this will help no one, you need to remain under control." He knew well what direction would need to be taken, but it would require both he and the Wild One working in conjuction with one another and neither of them losing focus until it was definitively time to act. Finally, as rge surge calmed completely the Child's cries were reduced to soft whimpers, and the Robot was soon enough able to get him back into sleep. "I am not sure where that surge came from, but that can not happen again. I may not be able to control him if it does."

Minerva after the rattling surge looked over at the others. "The WEAPONS nearly awakened with that last surge. That is not something that we can afford. I need you to make sure that they have not broken free of their bonds, the Planet will end up in chaos should that happen, and we have other things we need to be concentrating our energy on than dealing with misdirected weapons." She directed the rest of the summons around, green eyes narrowed at the corners and more than a bit angry.

The surge had come as a surprise even to her, a Goddess, even though she'd known it was a possibility with the playing about the group of humans had been doing with the lifestream, but she had not expected it quite so soon. _If another like that happens I may not be able to control things. If the Weapons break free there will be immense destruction. That is not something I want to have happen, the human race still has so much to contribute if they try. _

Rude got to Reno and Cloud's place just a few hours later, the first thing he saw was Cloud sitting at the kitchen counter with a beer in his hand, the blond seemingly trying to relax. The bald man could tell that Cloud's muscles were so tense that he half expected them to snap like overtightened piano wire if just the tiniest bit of pressure was placed on his bulky frame. He poured himself a shot of bourbon and sat next to Cloud. "I take it things got difficult here."

Cloud nodded. "He started rocking and keening in the chair in front of the breakfast bar, I had to carry him back into bed, It took me nearly two hours to get him calm and to get back to sleep, he started screaming about an hour into that two hours, just. . .the kind of screams that rip at your soul. I never want to hear him scream that way again, Rude." He shuddered, remembering the pathos of those terrified and distressed screams, the way they had echoed and reverberated off the walls of the bedroom.

Rude cringed at hearing that, downing the scotch in one gulp and pouring himself another. Reno had had some awful nightmares, after Sector Seven, and the bald man remembered having to comfort the redhead through them. It had been rough, and it wasn't something he ever wanted to experience again. He felt horrible for Cloud that he'd had to deal with that sort of trauma. "He'll make it through, I have faith in that. I just hope he makes it through all the way intact. . .no one wants to see him radicallty changed this way for good."

He sighed, and shook his head. "There was a lifestream surge earlier today. . .in Junon. I'm sure you heard, a lot of people died. I came to ask if Reno had. .sensed anything. . .but I see now he's not going to be able to give us any coherent answers. Rufus is worried, and not just about the effects on Reno, all of us know what he is and there are likely to be some, but. . .what could happen to the world as a whole if this gets too far out of hand."

Cloud looked up. "When did this happen?" As soon as Rude told him the time he sucked in a breath. "Reno started freaking out very shortly after that. That means yeah, there is a fairly good chance it's connected. I just don't know how yet, and I'm afraid to press him, especially after he practically broke down." He lifted his sword, swung it onto his back, then hunted down the keys to Fenrir. "Stay here. I'm going to go to Ajit, try to talk to Aerith. She's always clearer near the lake there, and this is something I really think I'm going to need her advice to deal with." His boots clacked across the wooden tile in the entry way as he headed toward the door. "If he wakes up, do your best to soothe him back to sleep, I should be back by morning."

Rude gave a sharp nod. "Be careful along the highway through Junon. Upper Junon's still ok, the bridge to cross from there to Costa should still be intact, but the supports for the upper city had had some corrosion on them due to the surge. Reno needs you, man, don't get yourself killed."

The drive along the highways was quiet. . .these were Cloud's best times to think, the wind through his hair, the engine of the big bike thrumming beneath him. The leather seat beneath him was warm, and the smells of grass and flowers penetrated his awareness as he got out of Edge. This wasn't his typical aimless riding, he had a set destination and purpose in mind, but he still was going to enjoy every second that he was out here.

_This is how I prepare myself to meet you again, Aerith. . I have a feeling I'm going to need your advice and Zack's. . .things just got complicated on me, and I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing. . .but I want to do my best by Reno, he deserves it. He deserves a lot better than he's had to deal with before this_.

The destruction outside of Junon had been just as bad as Rude had said, and Cloud's mouth drew into a narrow line as he drove onto the bridge, eager to put the eerie feeling of the now-ghost town behind him. Sure, Aerith and Zack were ghosts but he'd grown so used to their presence in his mind and heart that it no longer disturbed him for them to be around.

_You'd hate seeing what happened here, Aerith. .. the wreckage of an entire town, it'd make you cry. You were, after all, the one that stopped Holy from destroying us instead of saving us because you wanted to give the rest of humanity a chance to prove itself good stewards. _ The stink of mako in his nose set Cloud ill at ease as well, stirring memories he'd rather not have had in his mind, of being dunked in Lifestream and nearly losing himself, twice.

_Cloud. . .it's going to be all right. Get to the Ancient City, Zack and I will explain everything, including what you need to do._. The voice was Aerith's, she always seemed to come to him when he needed her most, and he had needed her more often than he liked over the past couple of days, _I'll make sure my cousin comes out of this all lright, I know that you love him, and that's what matters, right_?

The blond smiled a bit, the ocean lapping at the bridge beneath him as he continued to drive north, inhaling the ocean scent with closed eyes the smell sweeping away the stench that had been in his nostrils when he'd driven through the trashed town. The breeze was warm, and the day calm. Just what Cloud had needed to find his center again after the events of earlier in the day.

A few hours later, the air grew crisper, colder. The area near the Pole and the City of the Ancients itslef was subtemperate, nearly polar, and Cloud had to draw the leather coat he'd brought with him on to fend off the chill that had seized the air and began to prickle at his skin, leaving a wash of gooseflesh over all of his exposed skin. He hit the forest boundary and felt how the air suddenly seemed to go still, as if he'd entered another world.

Cloud parked the bike outside of the ancient forest, he'd have to walk through fromn there, but it was all right, the place had a serene feel to it that he loved. He got to into the city itself, and to the house in the center, his footsteps echoing on the wooden floor as he headed for the stairs, walking down them until he reached the alter near the spring at the very bottom. His first action was to dip his hands in the spring, lifting some o f the water to his mouth and drinking deeply.

_Cloud. . .I'm glad to see you made it here_. The voice of course belonged to Aerith, and a bright light blossemed in the doorway as the spirit fully manifesred. _There are things you don't know that you need to. _A hand swept over the lake, creating ripples on the surface of the water that produced images. Those images were ones of unrest within the lifestream. . ..souls suddenly leaving, disappearing from their resting places. . Imbalance beginning as there was not enough pure souls left to hold back the impurities. . .negative lifestream beginning to filrer through in faint black lines.

:Shit!" Cloud's words were almost a yel at what he was seeing. More negative souls meant more and more instability and death encroaching on a planet that had barely begun to heal from the crises as it was. "This has to be stopped. But what does Reno have to do with this, Aerith? I don't understand. The surge sent him into hysterics, it took me several hours to get him calmed back down again. I can't take another incident like that, I just can't."

_He has links to Phoenix, the spirit of Life, Death, and Rebirth. The disturbances are going to bother him more than they wouold even a normal Cetra as a result. There's little to be done about it. I agree, it does have to be stopped, but Reno will play an integral part in stopping it, as he's the last living one of the old bloodline. You are to be his Knight, his protector. He will need you now more than ever. _

"I'll watch over him and do my best to protect him, Aerith, but then that went without saying. I'm not going to let him be hurt if I can possibly help it. I'm just not sure what all of this entails yet, but then again I have a feeling you don''t know all of it yet either. It's just that everything just keeps getting more complicated." Cloud scowled at that, not being sure how to deal with the insanity that was beginning to develop around him. _I really don't lke this_. He thought to himself. _But I'm not sure what else to do but handle things as they came. There has to be a reason for Reno to be as he is, even if I don't know what it is yet. _


	10. Chapter 10

Chao Min grinned in wicked glee as he got the first shipment of his robot soldiers. "Excelent. . .most excellent. I will make sure that Doctor Kimiko gets her payment soon, as soon as we have the rest. But I am very happy with what I see today." He rubbed a hand over one metal cheek, watching the way the optics flashed green, then went dark again.

"Katsu, make sure all of these are placed in the protective storage units. Soon, very soon, we will have our first test., . .a small raid, I think. A town that would not get us noticed prior to us being ready. . .and It will go far toward getting us supplies too. Wonderful way to test just how capable these machines are. And how obedient." If they wouldn't obey him, even with their intelligence and resourcefulness, they were no good to him. He needed them to be able to act and change direction in a battle while still obeying a set of basic operating parameters. It was a lot of why he had wanted robots and not people. People were. . Unpredictable, and Chao Min had no time for that unpredictability.

"Yes sir." Katsu's mouth quirked up just a bit as he watched them. He preferred human beings to robots, and these mechanoids gave him just a bit of the creeps, but he wasn't about to tell Chao Min that. He liked his head right where it was, on his shouolders. He used the remote to get the hulking metal men marching straight in a line behind him. It didn't take him long to get them outside as he marched them across the packed dirt of the courtyard, toward the corrugated metal storage shed on the other side of the courtyard. It was empty, for the moment, of any equipment aside from those designed for taking care of the robots. There were charging racks, bins for parts, and ol cans scattered across the concrete floor

He got them stored one by one in the racvks that lay against the walls of the shed, wires draped over the metal contraptions, ones that would plug into a port in the back of each one's head. "There. All of you are in place. If there are any mechanical needs that any of you have they ywill be taken care of before you're used."

He shut the door of the shed with a clang. Katsu had his own ideas of which city to hit. . .he owed one of the families in the seaside resort town of Costa Del Sol some pain. . .he smirked as he thought about how he may just get a chance to get to deal it out. _It's not like anyone but a few beach bunnies would miss the place anyway, it's nothing but a resort. Not a thing of strategic importance there at all Perfect for the boss' uses, and I'm going to enjoy watching it burn. More than I probably should. Far more. _

The raid took place in the early dawn light a week after the accident at the stadium, swift and sure, the metal forms mowing through the town like saws, leaving nothing but burning cinders in their wake. Katsu watched as the mechanical monstrosites did their work, driving people out of their homes, some dying in the flames, as they burned it to the ground. It would be a good message to ShinRa once they heard to watch their backs, that the Flames of Phoenix were coming for them.

The townsfolk stood at the town line and just watched, one young man with tan skin, dark eyes and dark hair with a suspiciously familiar face, holding the body of his mother in his arms and tears flowing down his sface. "Dad. . I gotta. . .I gotta tell Rudy what happened here. . .but I don't know how to tell him that Mom's. . .that she's dead. I know we're not even supposed to be contacting him, but he'd want us to for this. He has a right to know."

"We'll call him when we get to Corel." Bernard, the father to the boy, and to Rude, told him. "He's supposed to put his past behind him, but you know he's always sent us whatever he could afford to. He'd want to know what happened to Gladys." Bernard Urar had been a banker by trade, originally from Kalm, whereas Gladys, originally Gladah, had been born to one of the migrant tribes in the Southern Desert, her briother had been Faruq, Prince of the Aibak Hakim tribe in the deserts "Your uncle is also going to be quite upset, Eric. . .this may very well lead to war if it isn't headed off, and the last thing I want is for him to get himself and his people killed over this."

Eric simply nodded, he was beginning to fall into despair. For all of the trouble he'd gotten in when he was younger. . .he and his brother who was three years his senior competing in everything, from women to cars to everything else, he loved his big brother who had gone on to become a Turk dearly. . .and this was not the kind of news he wanted to have to break to him at all. On top of it,, Eric had always been closest to his mother, that he had lost her, and in the way he had, had left him reeling and devestated.

News reached ShinRa HQ of the attack on Costa Del Sol before Rude's family had a chance to contact him, Rufus shot a look at Tseng, his lips thinning. "This has now gone too far. It is bad enough that they have done damage to this planet when ShinRa has been doing all that it can to repair the damage done in my father's name. But now they have done something to harm one of my own men, ones that I consider far more than employees, they are family now to me. These people have just gone and made it personal."

The white suited blond had his hands clenched into fists at his sides, rage making his lean frame tense to the point that fine tremors ran up and down it. The President had every intention of making this as painful and messy as it could get for the people who had harmed his family.

"Sir. . . shall I inform Rude of the raid?" Tseng asked. The Wutain was really not sure he wanted to deal with the normally taciturn Costan when he was given the news. Rude tended to have a very slow build when rage came, but it also meant that it took all that much longer for it to dispel, and in a contained space that temper would be very dangerous. He wasn't looking forward to the results. At all.

"Wait for twelve hours." Rufus instructed quietly. "There is a chance that should his family be alive they may well attempt to contact him, and I do not wish to have him be afraid that his family is dead without confirmation of such. It would go. . .badly. .. should that happen, and needless drama is not something I wish to be dealing with. I would likely find it very difficult to talk Rude out of doing something stupid and impulsive, and an even harder time wishing to do so."

"Yes sir." Tseng responded, bowing in the traditional Wutain manner. He was honestly very much hoping Rude's family contacted them before the twelve hours were up, he did not want to have to do it. _He will not ract well. . .his family has been one of Rude's best kept secrets ever since he joined Turk, and for just this reason. . .to protect them. He is one of the few of us that actually had a family remaining to him when he came to us. I hope for his sake and for all of our sakes that they have not been killed._

Rude had been relaxing in his apartment when his phone rang at around lunchtime, his senses immediately on alert when saw the number. _My family never calls me unless it's an emergency. . .I have a bad feeling about this_, The bald Turk picked up his phone to hear the voice of his father on the other end. "Dad. . .is everything all right? You don't normally call me, due to well. . .security concerns. ..it must be something pretty big if you are."

"Son. . I'm not sure if you know, but Costa del Sol was attacked in the early hours of this morning. Robots, dozens of them, " Bernard took a deep breath, He was not looking forward to breaking this particular bit of news to his son, not in the least. He knew very well how Rude would react, and it would be far from pleasant. "We lost our home. . .the entire town was burnt to the ground. Eric and I fled to Corel, we've found a place to stay there, but. .. I regret to inform you of this but. . ." and he swallowed thickly, his voice going even more quiet as he delivered it to Rude. "Your mother is dead. She was killed when the house caved in. I did my best to get to her, to evacuate all of us from the burning home, but there was nothing that I could do."

The phone creaked within the gloved hand as Rude's fingers tightened on the plastic casing of the device. Grief swamped him in a chilling wave, to be followed by a cold rage so deep that finding a way out of it would only come when he had her killer's cold, dead, mutilated forms laying ravaged at his feet. "I will get vengeance for you, and for our family, Dad. . .I make that sworn vow to you now. It will be signed in the blood of Mom's killers. They won't get away with this, I promise. It's bad enough that my partner was injured by those metal sons of bitches. . .but now they have touched my family. That isn't acceptable. "

"Be careful, Rudolph. The last thing that your mother would want is for you to be harmed because you insisted on trying to avenge her death. You know that as well as I do. She loved you with all of her heart, and she raised you to treat people with the kindness and respect that you would expecr friom them. But she also wished only for your safety, she worried about you with the work that you do. Please. ..whatever you choose to do, please just be safe."

"I'll do my best, Dad, I promise. I just don't want Mom's death to be meaningless. There has already been too Gods be Damned much loss as it is since this whole thing started. It has to stop." Rude pinched the bridge of his nose between two leather covered fingers, trying to fight back the pounding that was beginning between his eyes. Stress headaches were not a sensation he enjoyed at all, and as his feet sank into the tan plush carpeting of his living room he turned on the tv to the twenty four hour news channel, having a feeling he was going to regret it, but he had to see the damage for himself.

Nothing could prepare him for the flaming horror of watching the city where he had grown up erupt into what equated to a funeral pyre, buildings launching smudges of black smoke into the dawn time sky to obscure the rising red orb of the sun. "Holy Leviathan. . ." came the quietly uttered oath as he listened to the screams and watched people scrambling for the ocean, many of them on fire. It was a terrifying spectacle, one that would be imprinted on his mind for the rest of his life. This couldn't stand. . .he wouldn't let this stand, it was too horrible to contemplate allowing it.

Once he was off the phone with his father, he called in to ShinRa Head Quarters, his tone sharp and crisp as he spoke to Rufus ShinRa. "Mister President. . .once we're ready to go after these people, I want permission to be in on this mission. Those sons of bitches burned my family out of their home and they killed my mother. They made this personal, and I can not just sit at the sidelines while someone else has a hand in avenging the ones that I loved and have lost." He had managed to calm the shaking of rage that had seized his entire body when he had first gotten the news of his mother's death, but he'd buried it into a burning ball that when it exploded would be as messy and as destructive as one of his own special creation bombs.

Rufus sighed from the other end of the phone. He knew Rude Urar, and because he knew the man as well as he did he knew how useless it was to attempt to talk him out of this. "I will give you permission, Rude. . .but I also insist that you take Tseng with you. Your partner, even in the state that he is in right now, hell, especially in the state that he is right now, would take it extremely poorly should you be killed in the performance of this assignment. I for one do not want to be required to break such news to him. So please, by all that is holy or unholy, come back in one piece."

"Don't worry your mind so much, Mister President. I have no intention of getting myself killed. The only blood that will be spilled when all is said and done will be that of my mother's murderers. I'll bring their sorry carcasses back for burial." Rude's voice was a bare growl as he spoke, but all that mattered to him was that he had gotten the consent that he had sought to go after the ones who had committed the horrendous deed of putting their hands on his family.

He walked toward his bedroom, seeking out and finding his baby glock nine milimeter, the one he called the Enforcer, He pressed his lips to the barrel in a sensous looking kiss, but in reality it was a ritual that he had had ever since he'd first picked up the pistol. He took care of the firearm as if it was one of his own children, oiling the parts daily and cleaning it rigorously every time it was used. That was most of why that weapon had never once in all of his years of being a Turk failed him. "Let this be my hand, that which gains vengance upon those which have touched my own blood." he intoned as he slid the gun into the leather holster as easy as sliding a shaft into a well pleasured woman.

"Rufus, are you certain that giving Rude permission to accompany on this mission is such a wise decision? You of all people aside from Reno know what Rude is like when he gets into a particular mindset. He shuts out everything but the thing he wishes to accomplish, so much so that he becomes a danger to himself as well as those that he is accompanied by." Tseng was honestly extremely concerned by the fact that ShinRa's president had allowed this to occur. It was a disaster waiting to happen, and the former Bushi was very well aware of that fact.

"What would you have suggested that I should do, Tseng? Tell Rude no? Do you not realize what would have happened? He would have gone on ahead and done it anyway, withiout my permission or sanction, without proper equipment or backup, and suffered the consequences for his actions when he'd done what he set out to do. Do you honestly believe he would not have? I know better than that, Tseng Xiang, And I will not risk losing one of my top agents because he has gone it alone and managed to get himself permanently injured or killed in the doing." Rufus' tone was exasperated as he replied to the director of his Turk.

Tseng had to admit that Rufus had a point, but his stern expression said he didn't like the fact that his president just happened to be correct., It wasn't something he liked to think about, that his normally cool, implaceable Turk had a deeply buried temper that caused tunnel vision when it was triggered. It tended to get people killed, which was why Tseng tried to keep him out of the field when he was that franky well pissed off. It was just too damn dangerous, to everyone. "Sir, perhaps you're right. But it's not something that I like anyway. Granted, Rude does not normally do the absolutely _idiotic_ things normally that Reno typically does when he's angry, but it's still not the safest situation and one I would have preferred to avoid."

Hotaru got the news of the destuction of Costa, and bent her head down into her hands. This was not at all what she'd wanted. . .to have her creations used to kill. _They were designed to give people a second chance. . .not to destroy lives. Why? Why is it that things like this have happened? _Her thought was to turn herself over to ShinRa. . . to stop this before it went any further, but she wasn't sure how good an idea that was, and if she would even be given asylum rather than simply killed as soon as she threw herself on their tender mercies. _I must try. .. oh, Aki, forgive me, I will never be able to return our son to us. ..but I can not let this go on. Your brethern were never meant to be tools of war. _

She got her things together and began to get ready to go back to Edge. She was, in a word, horrified at all that had come to pass, her spirit reeling at all of the death and destruction that had taken place since all of it had begun. It would be almost a day's journey, and she would lose Aki again, but it had finally become too much for her to bear. Some prices were not worth paying, and she knew her husband would not want her to sacrifice his honor in order to return to her.

The pool of dark energy in the lifestream was beginning to grow larger, causing Minerva's lips to draw into a scowl as she sensed individual presences within, ones that were never meant to trouble the world again. The roiled and bubbled, trying to reach the vortex that was where the ones creating the robots and giving them life were drawing the spirits from. _If any of them escape to the surface. . .it will be a disaster. One the world would be hard pressed to survive, even with the Knight still around. _ She knew at least one of them was Jenova, and the last thing the world needed was that one haunting it again. "You are not going to escape into the world again, so don't even think to go there."

She had no idea that soon enough she would not be able to stop it. .. the mess thjat it would create would be difficult to clean up to say the least, but there was little to be done about it. _I need to make sure that the last of my Children is protected. .. he will be needed soon, especially should Jenova, Sephiroth, or one of those influenced by either one of them manage to make their way through that vortext and back to the world of the living again. There has already been too much damage because of them, our world can ill afford yet more of their meddling in it. _

"Phoenix, I want you to go and watch over the Child directly. He will need the protection, I can sense it. None of the Dark Ones have escaped yet, but it is only a matter of time with things being as they stand now." The Goddess tossed blond hair over her shoulder, bright eyes, as green as youngv leaves, meeting those of the young God of Life and Rebirth. "He trusts you, due to the afffinity that he and his mother both have with you."

The younger summon nodded, flame red hair streaming out behind him as his wings sprouted from hiis back, the pinions in the fiery shades of blue, red, orange, and yellow that signified his affinity to his natural element. He faded from sight as he passed the veil between life and death, appearing in his human-like form but in a more ethereal manner, not fully manifesting, not yet. He would stay invisible to the eyes of the living until he was absolutely needed.

Reno sat straight up in the bed, eyes going wide with a curious expression as his senses went wild. He could feel the familiar presence, but in his state he did not have a name to attach to it, just knew that it felt like someone he'd known for a long time, someone that he knew with absolute certainity that he could trust. His hand reached out, a look of utter awe and wonder dancing across his features as he watched the ghostly figure that only he in the house could see.

A smile played over full lips as he climbed out of the bed and headed for the kitchen. Reno had suddenly found himself thirsty as he was awakened by the rush of energy that signaled Phoenix's arrival in his home. A cooing noise slipped free as he removed the jug of milk from his refrigherator and poured himself a glass, drinking it and putting it back as he let the warmth of the firebird's presence wash over his heart and spirit.

Wind whistled through the trees outside, and it was as if the Turk was hearing all of it again for the very first time. A soft hum came from his throat, the same lullaby that he'd sung in the shower the time he'd awakened the Child. .

The Child began to stir again, though this time he did not fully awaken. He began to leak a bit of that energy, though, causing the external body to glow. Outside, Reno's hair lifted off the nape of his neck, a few sparkling specks of energy the color of raw mako rising up around him and windiing around the slender framne as he continued to hum.

Cloud groaned, blue eyes flutetring open as the light that Reno was giving off penetrated the closed parchment thin lids. It took him a few minutes to become coherent enough to fully take in that something unusual was going on, but once he did all he could do was stare. He feared to speak,, to call out to his lover, for fear that it would break whatever spell he was under. There was a strange and delicate beauty to this, and the former trooper did not want to upset the delicate balance of whatever this might happen to be.

Phoenxi could not help but smile, and giggle while in that invisible form, as he realized that the Child of the Planet was indeed sensing his presence, even if he could not fully see the summon at this point in time. The spirit was young as most summons went, with all of the innocence and playfulness that came with that youth. _I have wanted to be able to be close to him like this for so many years. . .I'm not going to waste this chance by getting myself into trouble with the others. _

The energy wound a bit more about Reno until he sensed Cloud's presence and stopped humming, the droplets simply walling to the floor like rain and then fading away as he did. "You are awake?" he asked, tilting his head to one side in a curious manner, as if he had not expected his lover to wake so easily.

"Yeah, just going to go use the bathroom and head back to bed. I have deliveries in the morning." Cloud shook himself free of the spell, but he still stared at Reno in utter dumbstruck wonder, still not sure that he had really seen what he had thought he had seen. He still was not entirely sure, though it sure looked that way to him. _He was. .. .glowing, with this light that looked as if it was coming from within, and the power I could sense. . .it felt like Aerith. Which as he's her cousin does sort of make sense, but. . .he was never trained to use it. How is he even harnassing any of that? _

In the early dawn hours, a figure slipped away from his aprtment in Edge, the long black sedan leaving the city before anyone had a chance to stop him. Sure, Rude had been given permission to go on any missions involving dealing with those who had destroyted his home and his family, but he'd been given a clue in the late portions of the night before, a single, very familiar to him, name. That had caused him to strike out on his own to eliminate the problem. . .personally.

_No one gets to have Katsu but me. _ I_t was bad enough what he did to Tseng, back during the war years. . .but then he killed my mother. . .no one touches what belongs to me and lives. . .and I will bring the rest of his little orginanzation down around his ears. He and they can burn like my town burned. . .like my mother and my home burned. _

The determination for his vengeance had indeed created a bit of tunnel vision for the bald headed Turk, just as Tseng had feared. . .but it also meant Rude was more focused than he had been in years. He'd tossed the bag with his tools in it into the back of the car, including the crushed magic matreria that made the demolitions just that bit more special. The colors would break across the clouds in the way that his partner had always loved when Rude set off one of those bad boys right underneath Katsu's floor. "You''re going to get to go out with a bang. Consider yourself lucky, if I weren't trying to respect the fact that Mother would be horrified if I tortured you I'd rip every one of your fingernails and pubic hairs out one at a time and feed them to you." a smirk crossed the tanned face at that as he thought with a great deal of pleasure of what he would like to do.


	11. Chapter 11

Tseng's eyes widened as he realized that Rude was gone. He'd been calling the man's apartment for an hour, with no answer, and his cell phone simply got Rude's voice mail. "Shit, shit shit." the wutain normally did not swear, but this was bad. . .this was very, very bad. "If he gets to Katsu first, Goddess only knows what could happen, especially if he gets _caught_. Reno would be devestated, and Rufus would have my head." He groaned, the thought of what kind of mess the whole thing could create not being something that was at all to his liking. He would have to get Elena and see if he could catch up to Rude before he got himself into trouble.

He flipped his phone open, pushing blue black bangs back out of almond shaped onyx eyes as he dialed Elena's number. "Elena, I need you to come to my apartment. Rude. . .has taken it upon himself to do something exceedingly foolish, and it will be up to us to be certain that it does not cost him more than he would be willing to pay. Or more than _we_ would be willing to see him pay." The director of the Turks' jaw clenched. He was not in the least looking forward to informing Rufus of what had happened, and he honestly hoped to stop Rude before such a thing became a necessity.

"Don't tell me, Tseng. He's gone and done something Reno would do." came Elena's reply,

"If you mean he's done something exceedingly stupid, reckless, foolish, and impulsive, then yes. . .he's done something that Reno would do." Tseng just sighed. "We need to reach him before he has a chance to do something even more stupid, like get himself _killed_. That's the last thing any of us need." he told her in a droll tone. _I do think you would have learned from your partner, Rude. You are supposed to be the steady one that thinks before you act, not take pages from Reno's book. _He tried to keep his frustration under control until Elena got there, because he needed to be cool, calm, and collected to deal with things properly.

"Let us just hope that Reno in his infinite wisdom even in his damaged state does not have enough self-awareness and ambition to do something extremely unintelligent and take it into his head to go after his partner." he mused as he waited for Elena. "He always seems to have this strange, eerie sense for when someone he cares for is in danger and tends to do utterly idiotic things when they are."

The redhead had other things on his mind as Rude was going about his vengeance. .. the Wild One had awakened, but instead of his normal thirst for violence, another of the base drives was very firmly in conrtol. Reno slipped from the bed, walking out to the living room where Cloud cleaning his blades, the wicked smile of lust pasting itself on his lips and making his eyes gleam as he set his finger on the sword that the blond was buffing sword oil into, sliding the long digit down the edge of it.

"You know, I forgot how sexy watchin' you clean these things is. . ." The voice was a deep purr as thin arms draped themselves around Cloud's neck, a grin touching the full lipped mouth. The pearl-colored teeth latched onto one of Cloud's ear lobes, nipping at it in a very sensual manner.

The former trooper went stiff, not entirely sure what to make of this change of attitude in his lover, and he set the blade aside so as not to accidentally hurt him. "Reno? What are you. . .doing?" He was trying to fight getting aroused while at the same time pushing down the huge amount of awkwardness and discomfort that the Turk's actions were causing him. It became even more discomfitting when he caught the mad gleam in the bluish green eyes, and the almost wicked prowling way in which he was moving.

"You. . .once I get you back to bed." the purr echoed across the plae flesh, as Reno began backing Cloud into the bedroom, the blond retreating step by step, very obviously less than comfortable about the direction that the entire situation was going in that moment. The Wild One of course could not care less that he was making the Hero of the World feel like crawling away and not coming back for the next hundred years.

"Reno. .. stop." Cloud was trying his best not encourage his lover. After all, he wasn't well, he was messed up, traumtized, and to take advanatge of someone in that state just would not be right. Even though it was much more Reno taking advantage of him at the moment, but that was very much beside the point. "You're not well, you shouldn't be doing this." His legs carried him further and further back as he tried not to give in to the Turk whho was coming on very, very strong.

"And why shouldn't I, hmm?" A long tongue ran over pink lips as one of the long fingered hands reached back, slipping the black hair elastic from his hair, soft strands falling in a blood-red river over his shoulders and down his back, framing the almost exotic looking features to utter perfection. It was an almost surreal contrast to the expression of childlike curiosity that had been on his face just a few hours ago. "It's not as if I can't make my own decisions. ..and I do very much want this."

_I have no idea what in the world to do with this. I mean he's acting like he wants this, but. . .is he even fully able __to__ consent? _The blond asked himself the question, and he really was not in the least sure of the answer. "Please, Reno. . .I don't think you should be doing this at all." Cloud yelped as lips came down on his, Reno's tongue trying to work its way in between his. He tried to shove the redhead back, but it was proving to not be easy.

Reno blinked as there was a sudden change in his face and his posture, though something sparked inside of him. . .something. ..familiar. . .as he reached his fingers up to his lips where he could still taste Cloud's distinctive flavor on them. "What was I. . .doing?" he asked, and if Cloud looked he would see that it was so close. ..the parts of him that had fractured were laying directly next to one another in the manner of a puzzle. .. though not completely mended, with just a bit of encouragement, for a very short moment, the one that Cloud had fallen so in love with shown in his eyes.

It was almost painful, and Cloud's heart ached to see it, as Reno's arms when almost awkwardly around him. _I don't know what I should do now. . .things are so topsy turvy. . .but that look in his eye. ..it's so very close to him being here again._Blue eyes met teal, and he swallowed thickly, _I want to believe. . .if only for this one night., that I can have back the one that I love so very dearly_. _That he won't be like Zack, or Aerith. . .that I won't fail him as I did them._

"Help me." the words were spoken in that ragged tone of need and desperation. "Help me find me. .. " there was so much pain involved in even trying to put himself back together again, in remembering, and yet. ..for Cloud. ..he was willing to give him this one sweet, magic moment. "And help me forget." He leaned in, the full lips parted, just the slightest bit, as the fair skinned face tilted back, as if begging to be kissed.

And kiss him Cloud did, heart pounding in his chest as the sound to come from between Reno's lips was a soft sigh, one that broke into a bit of a sob. Slender arms went around the trooper's shoulders, pulling him closer as the limbs trembled. For the moment, all three pieces were in agreement about what they wanted, and what they wanted was to be in Cloud's arms, to feel him, around him, inside of him, Cloud's scent on him, the feeling of his touch.

The strong arms lifted Reno up into them. . .Cloud carrying him into the bedroom, laying him down on the bed. "I love you. . .I know I suck with words, and I haven't said it enough, but it does not make it any less true." The words were spoken in a reverent tone, "I will help you forget. . .and you will find yourself in my heart." His hands worked the buttons on Reno's shirt and pants, baring the fair skin, his lips tracing down over every fishbelly silver scar, worshipping each one, the love clear in each and every touch. _I have missed him. . .though I won't tell him that out loud, I don't have words for it. _

Reno's breath came out a rattling sigh as sensation swamped him. . .a slow flickering fire that began in the pit of his belly and spread out through his limbs, being slowly but ever so certainly stoked to an inferno that seared over every nerve ending. Every muscle stiffened under his skin as he held tightly to Cloud. "Oh. ..oh Gods. . ." he whispered. "Please, please keep going." The plea came from him in a bare murmur as his arms tightened yet more.

In the drawer near the bed lay a small tub, one that Cloud knew well was there, and he slipped it open, the round tub being drawn out of the cherry wood table before it was closed with a distinctive noise. The top was removed, and his fingers dug into the viscous fluid. The slick-coated fingers slithered their way down the slender body, A look was given, one that asked _are you ready? Are you sure?_

Reno shivered at the sensations that those long fingers evoked, but that look was one that even in his still fragmented state he understood. . .and he gave the blond a nod. "I'm ready." came the words, spoken in a soft and ragged manner. The long digit that entered him brushed a place within him that sent starlight skittering across his vision, pleasure searing through him, making his body arch as feeling that was both foreign and remembered seized him.

Cloud watched in wonder as the slender body awakened. . .the pearlescent droplets on the tip of the long shaft that he'd known so very well telling of how much Reno was loving this. He could not resist the urge to bend down, licking one of those salty sticky streamlets off the round, uncut tip, drawing another soft shudder from his lover. He smiled at the groan it got. The former trooper was not expecting that this would last forever, he knew that mentally Reno still had a lot of healing to do. . .but he would enjoy it while he had it.

"Cloud. . ." the word was a soft sigh, no more than a single breath on the air between them, but the blond heard it, and felt it, deep inside of himself, It stirred something inside of him, the fierce protective streak that had driven him to keep his promise to Tifa, even when he'd been confused about how he felt for her, that had pushed him past his pain to defeat Sephiroth when the General had destroyed his home town and threatened to bring the entirety of the world to an end. _I'm not going to let him be hurt again. I will put my life on the line to protect him. I swear that_.

Within, the Wild One had been calmed, he was purring, the presence of the Knight settling him, at least for the moment, making him seize the Robot in his arms and press his lips to the other's in that mental space. For that moment, they were able to be one again. It would not last, it was not the time yet, and the strength was not yet there, bbut this one golden moment was one none of them would forget.

Reno's head tilted back, the full lips opening, His body was alight, beautifully alight, as he looked up at this man he loved more than life itself. "Now." he whispered, encourging Cloud to push into him, telling him that he was ready. His legs wrapped themselves around Cloud's waist, and he sighed as Cloud slid into him in one long, wonderfully smooth motion.

The radio played in the bedroom, Reno had taken to falling asleep with it on because it had always soothed his frazzled nerves when the memories of all of the bad things he'd done haunted him, and what played was perfect for this single shining moment in whish all of it had fit together just right.

_I wanna know what love is. _

_I want you to show me,_

_I wanna feel what love is_

_I know you can show me._

The feelings that bubbled up within as he made love to Reno filled Cloud with a sort of wonder that he so very rarely had a chance to feel. . .a knowledge, in heart, mind, and soul, that this love, when the time came, would be what would heal the damage that had bbeen done. He reached down, brushing his fingers through the flame like hair, pressing his lips to Reno's and imprinting that flavor onto him, body and soul. He could feel the warmth of the energy that had begun a slow leak and pulse from the slim body as soon as they had joined, and it made him smile.

"Oh Cloud. . ." Reno's tone was one of wonder as the feeling rose up inside of him like a tsunami, threatening to sweep over him, to entirely engulf him, but there was no fear. Merely wonder. .. and trust. Reno trusted Cloud, with his heart, with his life, with all of him. He knew the other would not ever harm him, and from the normally hard nosed and untrusting Turk that was a very big deal. The fire raged in his gut, and then blossomed fully, fanning out through his entire being as climax made his body tense fully, blue white fluid splashing between he and Cloud. In the one moment, he was whole, completely whole.

As Cloud's orgasm too grabbed hold of him and made muscles tense and teeth bare he swore he could hear soft laughter in the room, but he was sure he was imagining it. It wasn't like anyone could get through a locked door. Neither he nor Reno had any idea that it had been the presence of Phoenix that had allowed that temporary mending.

_You will need this, my Flame, and his protector, mate, and Knight. You will need this bonding, to keep you strong, with what is coming. I did what needed to be done to protect this world's future. . .I'm simply happy that both of you got to enjoy it as well_


End file.
